diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,20 @@
 `jira-wiki-markup` uses [PVP Versioning][1].
 The changelog is available [on GitHub][2].
 
+1.1.1
+=====
+
+Released 2020-03-18
+
+* Colon `:` and semicolon `;` are now parsed as special
+  characters, since they can be the first characters of an emoji.
+* Fixed parsing of words which contain non-special symbol
+  characters: word boundaries were not set correctly if a word
+  contained a dot `.` or similar chars.
+* Fixed incorrect emphasis parsing: digits were erroneously
+  allows as the first characters after closing emphasis
+  characters.
+
 1.1.0
 =====
 
@@ -29,7 +43,7 @@
   - blocks of colored text are parsed as `Color`;
   - interpretation of special characters as markup can be forced by
     surrounding them with curly braces.
-* A parser `plainText` was added available to read markup-less text.
+* A parser `plainText` was made available to read markup-less text.
 * *Inline*-parser `symbol` was renamed to `specialChar`.
 * Add printer module to render the document AST as Jira markup.
 * Markup datatype changes:
diff --git a/jira-wiki-markup.cabal b/jira-wiki-markup.cabal
--- a/jira-wiki-markup.cabal
+++ b/jira-wiki-markup.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 cabal-version:       2.0
 name:                jira-wiki-markup
-version:             1.1.0
+version:             1.1.1
 synopsis:            Handle Jira wiki markup
 description:         Parse jira wiki text into an abstract syntax tree for easy
                      transformation to other formats.
diff --git a/src/Text/Jira/Parser/Inline.hs b/src/Text/Jira/Parser/Inline.hs
--- a/src/Text/Jira/Parser/Inline.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Jira/Parser/Inline.hs
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
   ) where
 
 import Control.Monad (guard, void)
-import Data.Char (isLetter, isPunctuation, ord)
+import Data.Char (isAlphaNum, isPunctuation, ord)
 #if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,13,0)
 import Data.Monoid ((<>), All (..))
 #else
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
 
 -- | Characters which, depending on context, can have a special meaning.
 specialChars :: String
-specialChars = "_+-*^~|[]{}(!&\\"
+specialChars = "_+-*^~|[]{}(!&\\:;"
 
 -- | Parses an in-paragraph newline as a @Linebreak@ element. Both newline
 -- characters and double-backslash are recognized as line-breaks.
@@ -86,12 +86,14 @@
 
 -- | Parses a simple, markup-less string into a @Str@ element.
 str :: JiraParser Inline
-str = Str . pack <$> (alphaNums <|> otherNonSpecialChars) <?> "string"
+str = Str . pack . mconcat
+  <$> many1 (alphaNums <|> otherNonSpecialChars)
+  <?> "string"
   where
     nonStrChars = " \n" ++ specialChars
     alphaNums = many1 alphaNum <* updateLastStrPos
-    otherNonSpecialChars = many1 (noneOf nonStrChars)
-
+    otherNonSpecialChars = many1 . satisfy $ \c ->
+      not (isAlphaNum c || c `elem` nonStrChars)
 
 -- | Parses an HTML entity into an @'Entity'@ element.
 entity :: JiraParser Inline
@@ -203,7 +205,7 @@
   return $ ColorInline (ColorName $ pack name) content
   where
     colorName = many1 letter
-    colorCode = (:) <$> (option '#' (char '#')) <*> count 6 digit
+    colorCode = (:) <$> option '#' (char '#') <*> count 6 digit
 
 --
 -- Markup
@@ -259,4 +261,4 @@
   opening *> notFollowedBy space *> manyTill parser closing'
   where
     closing' = try $ closing <* lookAhead wordBoundary
-    wordBoundary = void (satisfy (not . isLetter)) <|> eof
+    wordBoundary = void (satisfy (not . isAlphaNum)) <|> eof
diff --git a/test/Text/Jira/Parser/InlineTests.hs b/test/Text/Jira/Parser/InlineTests.hs
--- a/test/Text/Jira/Parser/InlineTests.hs
+++ b/test/Text/Jira/Parser/InlineTests.hs
@@ -29,11 +29,14 @@
         parseJira str "word" @?= Right (Str "word")
 
       , testCase "non-special symbols" $
-        parseJira str ",.;#%" @?= Right (Str ",.;#%")
+        parseJira str ",.#%" @?= Right (Str ",.#%")
 
       , testCase "umlauts" $
         parseJira str "äéíöüßðå" @?= Right (Str "äéíöüßðå")
 
+      , testCase "mix of alphanums and non-special chars" $
+        parseJira str "20.09" @?= Right (Str "20.09")
+
       , testCase "space fails" $
         isLeft (parseJira str " ") @?
         "str should only be parsed into Space"
@@ -283,7 +286,8 @@
 
     , testCase "backslash-escaped char" $
       parseJira (normalizeInlines <$> many1 inline) "opening brace: \\{" @?=
-      Right [Str "opening", Space, Str "brace:", Space, SpecialChar '{']
+      Right [ Str "opening", Space, Str "brace", SpecialChar ':', Space
+            , SpecialChar '{']
 
     , testCase "icon after word" $
       parseJira (many1 inline) "checkmark(/)" @?=
@@ -299,7 +303,8 @@
 
     , testCase "smiley between words" $
       parseJira (normalizeInlines <$> many1 inline) "verdict: :D funny" @?=
-      Right [Str "verdict:", Space, Emoji IconSmiling, Space, Str "funny"]
+      Right [ Str "verdict", SpecialChar ':', Space
+            , Emoji IconSmiling, Space, Str "funny"]
 
     , testCase "dash with spaces" $
       parseJira (many1 inline) "one  -- two" @?=
@@ -315,5 +320,13 @@
             , ColorInline (ColorName "red") [Str "red"]
             , Str "."
             ]
+
+    , testCase "hypen between numbers" $
+      -- the hypens used to be treated as deletion markers.
+      parseJira (many1 inline) "-15 02-3" @?=
+      Right [ SpecialChar '-', Str "15" , Space, Str "02"
+            , SpecialChar '-', Str "3"
+            ]
+
     ]
   ]