diff --git a/vim/ftdetect/espeakfiletype.vim b/vim/ftdetect/espeakfiletype.vim
index af3abc20..f7a4542e 100644
--- a/vim/ftdetect/espeakfiletype.vim
+++ b/vim/ftdetect/espeakfiletype.vim
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 au BufRead,BufNewFile *_list  set filetype=espeaklist fileencoding=utf-8 fileformat=unix
 au BufRead,BufNewFile *_listx set filetype=espeaklist fileencoding=utf-8 fileformat=unix
 au BufRead,BufNewFile *_extra set filetype=espeaklist fileencoding=utf-8 fileformat=unix
+au BufRead,BufNewFile *_rules set filetype=espeakrules fileencoding=utf-8 fileformat=unix
diff --git a/vim/registry/espeak.yaml b/vim/registry/espeak.yaml
index 4b6553a7..d15411a6 100644
--- a/vim/registry/espeak.yaml
+++ b/vim/registry/espeak.yaml
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ description: "allow syntax highlighting for eSpeak and eSpeak NG Text-to-Speech
 files:
   - ftdetect/espeakfiletype.vim
   - syntax/espeaklist.vim
+  - syntax/espeakrules.vim
diff --git a/vim/syntax/espeakrules.vim b/vim/syntax/espeakrules.vim
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..679ec291
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vim/syntax/espeakrules.vim
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+" Vim syntax file
+" Language:	eSpeak Dictionary Rules Files
+" Filenames:    *_rules
+" Maintainer:	Reece H. Dunn <msclrhd@gmail.com>
+" Last Change:	2016 Sep 16
+
+" Quit when a (custom) syntax file was already loaded
+if exists("b:current_syntax")
+  finish
+endif
+
+
+" Replace region
+syn region espeakReplace start="^\.replace"hs=s+9 end="^\."me=e-2,he=e-2 contains=espeakReplaceKeyword,espeakComment nextgroup=espeakReplaceKeyword
+syn match espeakReplaceKeyword /^\.replace/ contained 
+
+" Rule region
+syn region espeakRule start="^\.group"hs=s+6 end="^\."me=e-2,he=e-2 contains=espeakRuleGroupKeyword,espeakRuleName,espeakRuleLine,espeakKeyword,espeakComment nextgroup=espeaGroupName fold
+
+" One rule line in Rule region
+syn region espeakRuleLine start="^[^\.]" end="$" contains=espeak1Cols,espeak2Cols,espeak3Cols,espeak4Cols,espeak5Cols,espeakComment
+
+syn match espeakRuleCond     /^?\d*/
+syn match espeakCharGroup    /^\.L\d\{2}/
+syn match espeakCharGroup    /L\d\{2}/ contained
+syn match espeakRuleSymbol   /[@#&ABCDHFGKNVXYZ]/ contained
+syn match espeakRuleSpecial  /[_\-\/&%+<]/ contained
+syn match espeakRulePrePoFix /[SP]\d\+/ contained
+syn match espeakRuleNote     /\(\$w_alt\d*\|\$p_alt\d*\|$noprefix\)/ contained
+syn match espeakComment "//.*$"  contains=espeakTodo 
+syn match espeakComment "//.*$"  contains=espeakTodo contained
+syn match espeakTodo /TODO/
+"syn match espeakError       /^\s*\S\+/ contains=espeakComment
+
+syn match espeakRuleGroupKeyword /^\.group/ nextgroup=espeakGroupName contained
+syn match espeakGroupName /\s*\S\+/ nextgroup=espeakComment contained 
+syn match espeak1Cols /^\s*\S\+/ contains=espeakComment contained 
+syn match espeak2Cols /^\s*\S\+\s\+\S\+/ contains=espeakRuleCond,espeakRuleSpell,espeakCharGroup,espeakComment contained 
+syn match espeak3Cols /^\s*\S\+\s\+\S\+\s\+\S\+/ contains=espeakRulePre,espeakRuleCond,espeakRulePos,espeakRuleSpell,espeakComment contained
+syn match espeak4Cols /^\s*\S\+\s\+\S\+\s\+\S\+\s\+\S\+/ contains=espeakRulePre,espeakRuleCond,espeakRulePos,espeakRuleSpell,espeakComment contained
+syn match espeak5Cols /^\s*\S\+\s\+\S\+\s\+\S\+\s\+\S\+\s\+\S\+/ contains=espeakRulePre,espeakRuleCond,espeakRulePos,espeakRuleSpell,espeakComment contained
+syn match espeakRulePre /\S\+)/ contains=espeakCharGroup,espeakRuleSymbol,espeakRuleSpecial contained
+syn match espeakRulePos /\s*(\S\+/ contains=espeakCharGroup,espeakRulePrePoFix,espeakRuleNote,espeakRuleSymbol,espeakRuleSpecial contained
+
+" Define the default highlighting.
+" Only used when an item doesn't have highlighting yet
+
+hi link espeakReplace String
+hi link espeakRuleName Statement
+hi link espeakReplaceKeyword Statement 
+hi link espeakRuleGroupKeyword Keyword
+hi link espeakRuleSpecial espeakRuleHiglight
+hi link espeakRuleNote espeakRuleHiglight
+hi link espeakRuleCond espeakRuleHiglight 
+hi link espeakRulePrePoFix Keyword 
+hi link espeakGroupName Character
+hi link espeakCharGroup espeakRuleDarklight
+hi link espeakRuleSymbol Special
+hi link espeak1Cols String
+hi link espeak2Cols String
+hi link espeak3Cols String
+hi link espeak4Cols String
+hi link espeak5Cols String
+hi link espeakRulePre Identifier
+hi link espeakRulePos Identifier
+hi link espeakError Error
+hi link espeakKeyword Keyword
+hi link espeakComment Comment
+hi link espeakTodo Todo
+hi espeakRuleHiglight guifg=magenta
+hi espeakRuleDarklight guifg=darkmagenta
+
+let b:current_syntax = "espeakrules"
+" vim: ts=8
+"