diff -r e605ca133ac6 src/video/x11/SDL_x11events.c
--- a/src/video/x11/SDL_x11events.c	Sat Aug 24 09:43:14 2013 -0400
+++ b/src/video/x11/SDL_x11events.c	Sun Aug 25 01:23:34 2013 +0200
@@ -269,10 +269,19 @@
     XEvent xevent;
     int i;
     XClientMessageEvent m;
+    KeyCode prefilter_keycode = 0;
+    int prefilter_type = 0;
 
     SDL_zero(xevent);           /* valgrind fix. --ryan. */
     XNextEvent(display, &xevent);
 
+    /* before filtering the event (which will modify it in case of dead
+       keys), store the original keycode so we can generate a SDL_KEYDOWN/UP
+       event for it anyway */
+    if(xevent.type == KeyPress || xevent.type == KeyRelease) {
+        prefilter_keycode = xevent.xkey.keycode;
+        prefilter_type = xevent.type;
+    }
     /* filter events catchs XIM events and sends them to the correct
        handler */
     if (XFilterEvent(&xevent, None) == True) {
@@ -280,6 +289,14 @@
         printf("Filtered event type = %d display = %d window = %d\n",
                xevent.type, xevent.xany.display, xevent.xany.window);
 #endif
+
+        /* in case this was a keypress/release event, send it to SDL
+           anyway, because we want events for dead keys too. */
+        if(prefilter_keycode != 0) {
+            SDL_SendKeyboardKey(prefilter_type == KeyPress ? SDL_PRESSED : SDL_RELEASED,
+                                videodata->key_layout[prefilter_keycode]);
+        }
+
         return;
     }