diff --git a/src/Neon/Decoder.php b/src/Neon/Decoder.php
index d1379dc2..f8411f93 100644
--- a/src/Neon/Decoder.php
+++ b/src/Neon/Decoder.php
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ final class Decoder
 
 		// literal / boolean / integer / float
 		'
-			(?: [^#"\',:=[\]{}()\x00-\x20`-] | [:-] [^"\',=[\]{}()\s] )
+			(?: [^#"\',:=[\]{}()\x00-\x20`-] | (?<!["\']) [:-] [^"\',=[\]{}()\s] )
 			(?:
 				[^,:=\]})(\x00-\x20]++ |
 				:(?! [\s,\]})] | $ ) |
diff --git a/tests/Neon/Decoder.inline.array.phpt b/tests/Neon/Decoder.inline.array.phpt
index 46e37ebf..93bb7cee 100644
--- a/tests/Neon/Decoder.inline.array.phpt
+++ b/tests/Neon/Decoder.inline.array.phpt
@@ -105,3 +105,6 @@ Assert::equal(
 	]),
 	Neon::decode('1() 2()')
 );
+
+// JSON compatibility
+Assert::same(['a' => true], Neon::decode('{"a":true}'));