diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/ssml.c b/src/libespeak-ng/ssml.c
index 18ab3a11..55bed523 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/ssml.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/ssml.c
@@ -135,10 +135,15 @@ static int attrcopy_utf8(char *buf, const wchar_t *pw, int len)
 	int ix = 0;
 
 	if (pw != NULL) {
+		wchar_t quote = pw[-1];
+		if ((quote != '"') && (quote != '\'')) quote = 0;
+
 		unsigned int c;
 		int prev_c = 0;
 		while ((ix < (len-4)) && ((c = *pw++) != 0)) {
-			if ((c == '"') && (prev_c != '\\'))
+			if ((quote == 0) && (isspace(c) || (c == '/')))
+				break;
+			if ((quote != 0) && (c == quote) && (prev_c != '\\'))
 				break; // " indicates end of attribute, unless preceded by backstroke
 
 			int n = utf8_out(c, &buf[ix]);
@@ -299,8 +304,10 @@ static const wchar_t *GetSsmlAttribute(wchar_t *pw, const char *name)
 				while (iswspace(*pw)) pw++;
 				if ((*pw == '"') || (*pw == '\'')) // allow single-quotes ?
 					return pw+1;
-				else
+				else if (iswspace(*pw) || (*pw == '/')) // end of attribute
 					return empty;
+				else
+					return pw;
 			}
 		}
 		pw++;