Index: CKEditor/trunk/_source/core/dom/range.js
===================================================================
--- CKEditor/trunk/_source/core/dom/range.js	(revision 6392)
+++ CKEditor/trunk/_source/core/dom/range.js	(revision 6393)
@@ -249,5 +249,5 @@
 
 				// Merge splitted parents.
-				if ( mergeThen )
+				if ( mergeThen && topStart.type == CKEDITOR.NODE_ELEMENT )
 				{
 					var span = CKEDITOR.dom.element.createFromHtml( '<span ' +