diff --git a/runtime/syntax/rst.vim b/runtime/syntax/rst.vim
index 232d2a7..d620d91 100644
--- a/runtime/syntax/rst.vim
+++ b/runtime/syntax/rst.vim
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 " Maintainer: Marshall Ward <marshall.ward@gmail.com>
 " Previous Maintainer: Nikolai Weibull <now@bitwi.se>
 " Website: https://github.com/marshallward/vim-restructuredtext
-" Latest Revision: 2016-08-18
+" Latest Revision: 2018-07-23
 
 if exists("b:current_syntax")
   finish
@@ -50,7 +50,10 @@
 syn match   rstExplicitMarkup       '^\s*\.\.\_s'
       \ nextgroup=@rstDirectives,rstComment,rstSubstitutionDefinition
 
-let s:ReferenceName = '[[:alnum:]]\+\%([_.-][[:alnum:]]\+\)*'
+" "Simple reference names are single words consisting of alphanumerics plus
+" isolated (no two adjacent) internal hyphens, underscores, periods, colons
+" and plus signs."
+let s:ReferenceName = '[[:alnum:]]\%([-_.:+]\?[[:alnum:]]\+\)*'
 
 syn keyword     rstTodo             contained FIXME TODO XXX NOTE
 
@@ -83,7 +86,7 @@
       \ ' end=+^\s\@!+ contains=@rstCruft,rstLiteralBlock'
 
 execute 'syn match rstSubstitutionDefinition contained' .
-      \ ' /|' . s:ReferenceName . '|\_s\+/ nextgroup=@rstDirectives'
+      \ ' /|.*|\_s\+/ nextgroup=@rstDirectives'
 
 function! s:DefineOneInlineMarkup(name, start, middle, end, char_left, char_right)
   execute 'syn region rst' . a:name .
@@ -107,10 +110,10 @@
   call s:DefineOneInlineMarkup(a:name, a:start, middle, a:end, '’', '’')
   " TODO: Additional Unicode Pd, Po, Pi, Pf, Ps characters
 
-  call s:DefineOneInlineMarkup(a:name, a:start, middle, a:end, '\%(^\|\s\|[/:]\)', '')
+  call s:DefineOneInlineMarkup(a:name, a:start, middle, a:end, '\%(^\|\s\|\%ua0\|[/:]\)', '')
 
   execute 'syn match rst' . a:name .
-        \ ' +\%(^\|\s\|[''"([{</:]\)\zs' . a:start .
+        \ ' +\%(^\|\s\|\%ua0\|[''"([{</:]\)\zs' . a:start .
         \ '[^[:space:]' . a:start[strlen(a:start) - 1] . ']'
         \ a:end . '\ze\%($\|\s\|[''")\]}>/:.,;!?\\-]\)+'
 
@@ -124,14 +127,31 @@
 call s:DefineInlineMarkup('SubstitutionReference', '|', '|', '|_\{0,2}')
 call s:DefineInlineMarkup('InlineInternalTargets', '_`', '`', '`')
 
-syn match   rstSections "^\%(\([=`:.'"~^_*+#-]\)\1\+\n\)\=.\+\n\([=`:.'"~^_*+#-]\)\2\+$"
+" Sections are identified through their titles, which are marked up with
+" adornment: "underlines" below the title text, or underlines and matching
+" "overlines" above the title. An underline/overline is a single repeated
+" punctuation character that begins in column 1 and forms a line extending at
+" least as far as the right edge of the title text.
+"
+" It is difficult to count characters in a regex, but we at least special-case
+" the case where the title has at least three characters to require the
+" adornment to have at least three characters as well, in order to handle
+" properly the case of a literal block:
+"
+"    this is the end of a paragraph
+"    ::
+"       this is a literal block
+syn match   rstSections "\v^%(([=`:.'"~^_*+#-])\1+\n)?.{1,2}\n([=`:.'"~^_*+#-])\2+$"
+    \ contains=@Spell
+syn match   rstSections "\v^%(([=`:.'"~^_*+#-])\1{2,}\n)?.{3,}\n([=`:.'"~^_*+#-])\2{2,}$"
+    \ contains=@Spell
 
 " TODO: Can’t remember why these two can’t be defined like the ones above.
 execute 'syn match rstFootnoteReference contains=@NoSpell' .
-      \ ' +\[\%(\d\+\|#\%(' . s:ReferenceName . '\)\=\|\*\)\]_+'
+      \ ' +\%(\s\|^\)\[\%(\d\+\|#\%(' . s:ReferenceName . '\)\=\|\*\)\]_+'
 
 execute 'syn match rstCitationReference contains=@NoSpell' .
-      \ ' +\[' . s:ReferenceName . '\]_\ze\%($\|\s\|[''")\]}>/:.,;!?\\-]\)+'
+      \ ' +\%(\s\|^\)\[' . s:ReferenceName . '\]_\ze\%($\|\s\|[''")\]}>/:.,;!?\\-]\)+'
 
 execute 'syn match rstHyperlinkReference' .
       \ ' /\<' . s:ReferenceName . '__\=\ze\%($\|\s\|[''")\]}>/:.,;!?\\-]\)/'
@@ -140,28 +160,69 @@
       \ "\<\%(\%(\%(https\=\|file\|ftp\|gopher\)://\|\%(mailto\|news\):\)[^[:space:]'\"<>]\+\|www[[:alnum:]_-]*\.[[:alnum:]_-]\+\.[^[:space:]'\"<>]\+\)[[:alnum:]/]"
 
 syn region rstCodeBlock contained matchgroup=rstDirective
-      \ start=+\%(sourcecode\|code\%(-block\)\=\)::\s\+\w*\_s*\n\ze\z(\s\+\)+
+      \ start=+\%(sourcecode\|code\%(-block\)\=\)::\s\+.*\_s*\n\ze\z(\s\+\)+
       \ skip=+^$+
       \ end=+^\z1\@!+
       \ contains=@NoSpell
 syn cluster rstDirectives add=rstCodeBlock
 
 if !exists('g:rst_syntax_code_list')
-    let g:rst_syntax_code_list = ['vim', 'java', 'cpp', 'lisp', 'php',
-                                \ 'python', 'perl', 'sh']
+    " A mapping from a Vim filetype to a list of alias patterns (pattern
+    " branches to be specific, see ':help /pattern'). E.g. given:
+    "
+    "   let g:rst_syntax_code_list = {
+    "       \ 'cpp': ['cpp', 'c++'],
+    "       \ }
+    "
+    " then the respective contents of the following two rST directives:
+    "
+    "   .. code:: cpp
+    "
+    "       auto i = 42;
+    "
+    "   .. code:: C++
+    "
+    "       auto i = 42;
+    "
+    " will both be highlighted as C++ code. As shown by the latter block
+    " pattern matching will be case-insensitive.
+    let g:rst_syntax_code_list = {
+        \ 'vim': ['vim'],
+        \ 'java': ['java'],
+        \ 'cpp': ['cpp', 'c++'],
+        \ 'lisp': ['lisp'],
+        \ 'php': ['php'],
+        \ 'python': ['python'],
+        \ 'perl': ['perl'],
+        \ 'sh': ['sh'],
+        \ }
+elseif type(g:rst_syntax_code_list) == type([])
+    " backward compatibility with former list format
+    let s:old_spec = g:rst_syntax_code_list
+    let g:rst_syntax_code_list = {}
+    for s:elem in s:old_spec
+        let g:rst_syntax_code_list[s:elem] = [s:elem]
+    endfor
 endif
 
-for code in g:rst_syntax_code_list
+for s:filetype in keys(g:rst_syntax_code_list)
     unlet! b:current_syntax
     " guard against setting 'isk' option which might cause problems (issue #108)
     let prior_isk = &l:iskeyword
-    exe 'syn include @rst'.code.' syntax/'.code.'.vim'
-    exe 'syn region rstDirective'.code.' matchgroup=rstDirective fold'
-                \.' start=#\%(sourcecode\|code\%(-block\)\=\)::\s\+'.code.'\_s*\n\ze\z(\s\+\)#'
+    let s:alias_pattern = ''
+                \.'\%('
+                \.join(g:rst_syntax_code_list[s:filetype], '\|')
+                \.'\)'
+
+    exe 'syn include @rst'.s:filetype.' syntax/'.s:filetype.'.vim'
+    exe 'syn region rstDirective'.s:filetype
+                \.' matchgroup=rstDirective fold'
+                \.' start="\c\%(sourcecode\|code\%(-block\)\=\)::\s\+'.s:alias_pattern.'\_s*\n\ze\z(\s\+\)"'
                 \.' skip=#^$#'
                 \.' end=#^\z1\@!#'
-                \.' contains=@NoSpell,@rst'.code
-    exe 'syn cluster rstDirectives add=rstDirective'.code
+                \.' contains=@NoSpell,@rst'.s:filetype
+    exe 'syn cluster rstDirectives add=rstDirective'.s:filetype
+
     " reset 'isk' setting, if it has been changed
     if &l:iskeyword !=# prior_isk
         let &l:iskeyword = prior_isk
@@ -169,6 +230,9 @@
     unlet! prior_isk
 endfor
 
+" Enable top level spell checking
+syntax spell toplevel
+
 " TODO: Use better syncing.
 syn sync minlines=50 linebreaks=2
 
@@ -189,8 +253,6 @@
 hi def link rstExDirective                  String
 hi def link rstSubstitutionDefinition       rstDirective
 hi def link rstDelimiter                    Delimiter
-hi def rstEmphasis ctermfg=13 term=italic cterm=italic gui=italic
-hi def rstStrongEmphasis ctermfg=1 term=bold cterm=bold gui=bold
 hi def link rstInterpretedTextOrHyperlinkReference  Identifier
 hi def link rstInlineLiteral                String
 hi def link rstSubstitutionReference        PreProc
@@ -200,6 +262,14 @@
 hi def link rstHyperLinkReference           Identifier
 hi def link rstStandaloneHyperlink          Identifier
 hi def link rstCodeBlock                    String
+if exists('g:rst_use_emphasis_colors')
+    " TODO: Less arbitrary color selection
+    hi def rstEmphasis          ctermfg=13 term=italic cterm=italic gui=italic
+    hi def rstStrongEmphasis    ctermfg=1 term=bold cterm=bold gui=bold
+else
+    hi def rstEmphasis          term=italic cterm=italic gui=italic
+    hi def rstStrongEmphasis    term=bold cterm=bold gui=bold
+endif
 
 let b:current_syntax = "rst"