diff --git a/docs/phontab.md b/docs/phontab.md
index bfcd1fb1..b9d9320d 100644
--- a/docs/phontab.md
+++ b/docs/phontab.md
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ Starts a new phoneme table, and ends the previous table.
 
 \<parent\> Is the name of a previously defined phoneme table whose phoneme
 definitions are inherited by this one. The name `base` indicates the first
-(base) phoneme table.
+(base) phoneme table. The name `_` indicates no parent phoneme table.
 
 ## Phoneme Definitions
 
diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c b/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
index ac640820..f3ea92e4 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
@@ -2412,7 +2412,7 @@ static void StartPhonemeTable(const char *name)
 				break;
 			}
 		}
-		if (ix == n_phoneme_tabs)
+		if (ix == n_phoneme_tabs && strcmp(item_string, "_") != 0)
 			error("Can't find base phonemetable '%s'", item_string);
 	} else
 		ReservePhCodes();