diff --git a/java/java-impl/src/com/intellij/spi/parsing/SPIParserDefinition.java b/java/java-impl/src/com/intellij/spi/parsing/SPIParserDefinition.java
index f32bd37a11d9..509209204df6 100644
--- a/java/java-impl/src/com/intellij/spi/parsing/SPIParserDefinition.java
+++ b/java/java-impl/src/com/intellij/spi/parsing/SPIParserDefinition.java
@@ -126,7 +126,9 @@ public class SPIParserDefinition implements ParserDefinition {
   }
 
   private static void parseProviderChar(final PsiBuilder builder) {
-    LOG.assertTrue(builder.getTokenType() == JavaTokenType.IDENTIFIER);
+    final IElementType initialTokenType = builder.getTokenType();
+    if (initialTokenType == null) return;
+    LOG.assertTrue(initialTokenType == JavaTokenType.IDENTIFIER);
     builder.advanceLexer();
     final IElementType tokenType = builder.getTokenType();
     if (tokenType == JavaTokenType.DOT || tokenType == SPITokenType.DOLLAR) {