diff --git a/src/GF/Speech/PrSRGS.hs b/src/GF/Speech/PrSRGS.hs
index 58170842f..3b88cad3a 100644
--- a/src/GF/Speech/PrSRGS.hs
+++ b/src/GF/Speech/PrSRGS.hs
@@ -146,5 +146,8 @@ optimizeSRGS = bottomUpXML f
   where f (Tag "item" [] [x@(Tag "item" _ _)]) = x
         f (Tag "item" [] [x@(Tag "one-of" _ _)]) = x
         f (Tag "item" as [Tag "item" [] xs]) = Tag "item" as xs
+        f (Tag "item" as xs) = Tag "item" as (map g xs)
+           where g (Tag "item" [] [x@(ETag "ruleref" _)]) = x
+                 g x = x
         f (Tag "one-of" [] [x]) = x
         f x = x