diff --git a/core/modules/filter/filter.module b/core/modules/filter/filter.module
index 2ad725a..e3ef6e6 100644
--- a/core/modules/filter/filter.module
+++ b/core/modules/filter/filter.module
@@ -1159,7 +1159,7 @@ function filter_filter_info() {
     'process callback' => '_filter_html',
     'settings callback' => '_filter_html_settings',
     'default settings' => array(
-      'allowed_html' => '<a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>',
+      'allowed_html' => '<a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <span>',
       'filter_html_help' => 1,
       'filter_html_nofollow' => 0,
     ),
@@ -1275,6 +1275,7 @@ function _filter_html_tips($filter, $format, $long = FALSE) {
     'sub' => array(t('Subscripted'), t('<sub>Sub</sub>scripted')),
     'pre' => array(t('Preformatted'), '<pre>' . t('Preformatted') . '</pre>'),
     'abbr' => array(t('Abbreviation'), t('<abbr title="Abbreviation">Abbrev.</abbr>')),
+    'span' => array(t('Group part of a text (i.e. for language)'), t('<span lang="fr">C\'est la vie</span>')),
     'acronym' => array(t('Acronym'), t('<acronym title="Three-Letter Acronym">TLA</acronym>')),
     'blockquote' => array(t('Block quoted'), '<blockquote>' . t('Block quoted') . '</blockquote>'),
     'q' => array(t('Quoted inline'), '<q>' . t('Quoted inline') . '</q>'),