diff --git a/vhdlpp/parse.y b/vhdlpp/parse.y
index 49af5b57c..ad6b57c44 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/parse.y
+++ b/vhdlpp/parse.y
@@ -254,11 +254,12 @@ const VType*parse_type_by_name(perm_string name)
 %type <named_expr> association_element
 %type <named_expr_list> association_list port_map_aspect port_map_aspect_opt
 
-%type <vtype> subtype_indication
+%type <vtype> subtype_indication type_definition
 
 %type <text> architecture_body_start package_declaration_start
 %type <text> identifier_opt identifier_colon_opt logical_name suffix
 %type <name_list> logical_name_list identifier_list
+%type <name_list> enumeration_literal_list enumeration_literal
 %type <compound_name> prefix selected_name
 %type <compound_name_list> selected_names use_clause
 
@@ -404,6 +405,8 @@ block_declarative_item
 
   | constant_declaration
 
+  | type_declaration
+
   | use_clause_lib
 
       /* Various error handling rules for block_declarative_item... */
@@ -780,6 +783,31 @@ entity_header
       { $$ = $1; }
   ;
 
+enumeration_literal
+  : IDENTIFIER
+      { list<perm_string>*tmp = new list<perm_string>;
+	tmp->push_back(lex_strings.make($1));
+	delete[]$1;
+	$$ = tmp;
+      }
+  ;
+
+enumeration_literal_list
+  : enumeration_literal_list ',' enumeration_literal
+      { list<perm_string>*tmp = $1;
+	list<perm_string>*tmp3 = $3;
+	if (tmp3) {
+	      tmp->splice(tmp->end(), *tmp3);
+	      delete tmp3;
+	}
+	$$ = tmp;
+      }
+  | enumeration_literal
+      { list<perm_string>*tmp = $1;
+	$$ = tmp;
+      }
+  ;
+
 expression_list
   : expression_list ',' expression
       { list<Expression*>*tmp = $1;
@@ -1762,6 +1790,19 @@ term
       }
   ;
 
+type_declaration
+  : K_type IDENTIFIER K_is type_definition ';'
+      { sorrymsg(@1, "type_declaration not supported.\n"); }
+  ;
+
+type_definition
+  : '(' enumeration_literal_list ')'
+      { VTypeEnum*tmp = new VTypeEnum($2);
+	delete $2;
+	$$ = tmp;
+      }
+  ;
+
 use_clause
   : K_use selected_names ';'
      {
diff --git a/vhdlpp/vtype.cc b/vhdlpp/vtype.cc
index 1065e2592..4be70e401 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/vtype.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/vtype.cc
@@ -105,3 +105,18 @@ VTypeRange::VTypeRange(const VType*base, int64_t max_val, int64_t min_val)
 VTypeRange::~VTypeRange()
 {
 }
+
+VTypeEnum::VTypeEnum(const std::list<perm_string>*names)
+: names_(names->size())
+{
+      size_t idx = 0;
+
+      for (list<perm_string>::const_iterator cur = names->begin()
+		 ; cur != names->end() ; ++cur, ++idx) {
+	    names_[idx] = *cur;
+      }
+}
+
+VTypeEnum::~VTypeEnum()
+{
+}
diff --git a/vhdlpp/vtype.h b/vhdlpp/vtype.h
index fbe89a7a0..812f4bc22 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/vtype.h
+++ b/vhdlpp/vtype.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
  */
 
 # include  <iostream>
+# include  <list>
 # include  <vector>
 # include  <climits>
 # include  <inttypes.h>
@@ -41,6 +42,9 @@ class VType {
 	// writing parsed types to library files.
       virtual void write_to_stream(std::ostream&fd) const;
 
+	// This virtual method writes a human-readable version of the
+	// type to a given file for debug purposes. (Question: is this
+	// really necessary given the write_to_stream method?)
       virtual void show(std::ostream&) const;
 
     public:
@@ -154,4 +158,16 @@ class VTypeRange : public VType {
       int64_t max_, min_;
 };
 
+class VTypeEnum : public VType {
+
+    public:
+      VTypeEnum(const std::list<perm_string>*names);
+      ~VTypeEnum();
+
+      virtual void elaborate(decl_t&decl) const;
+
+    private:
+      std::vector<perm_string>names_;
+};
+
 #endif
diff --git a/vhdlpp/vtype_elaborate.cc b/vhdlpp/vtype_elaborate.cc
index b608e8e1a..99d8d461f 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/vtype_elaborate.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/vtype_elaborate.cc
@@ -63,3 +63,7 @@ void VTypeRange::elaborate(VType::decl_t&decl) const
 {
       base_->elaborate(decl);
 }
+
+void VTypeEnum::elaborate(decl_t&) const
+{
+}