Linguistic processing platform, architecture and methods

A system and method for natural language processing comprises a blackboard data structure for providing a shared knowledge repository over which a collection of natural language agents can execute processes on the processable data form, each agent being capable of providing a processing resource usable for serving requests to execute a natural language process on the processable data form, and determining, based on their respective capabilities and examination of the blackboard, what requests for processing they can best serve; and a dispatcher for coordinating the work of registered agents, maintaining a high-level description of tasks to be completed to provide a solution to a given natural language engineering problem, and determining the registered agents that best provide a solution to the given natural language engineering problem.