diff --git a/src/languages/c.js b/src/languages/c.js
index 4c502d91c6..114339b831 100644
--- a/src/languages/c.js
+++ b/src/languages/c.js
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ export default function(hljs) {
   };
 
   const FUNCTION_DECLARATION = {
-    begin: '(' + FUNCTION_TYPE_RE + '[\\*&\\s]+)+' + FUNCTION_TITLE,
+    begin: '(' + FUNCTION_TYPE_RE + '\\s*[\\*&]+\\s*)*(?:' + FUNCTION_TYPE_RE + '\\s*[\\*&]*\\s*)?' + FUNCTION_TITLE,
     returnBegin: true,
     end: /[{;=]/,
     excludeEnd: true,
diff --git a/src/languages/cpp.js b/src/languages/cpp.js
index 1b3e337784..9f75808d5a 100644
--- a/src/languages/cpp.js
+++ b/src/languages/cpp.js
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ export default function(hljs) {
 
   const FUNCTION_DECLARATION = {
     className: 'function',
-    begin: '(' + FUNCTION_TYPE_RE + '[\\*&\\s]+)+' + FUNCTION_TITLE,
+    begin: '(' + FUNCTION_TYPE_RE + '\\s*[\\*&]+\\s*)*(?:' + FUNCTION_TYPE_RE + '\\s*[\\*&]*\\s*)?' + FUNCTION_TITLE,
     returnBegin: true,
     end: /[{;=]/,
     excludeEnd: true,
diff --git a/src/languages/javascript.js b/src/languages/javascript.js
index 65b60779a4..cb6cba3b88 100644
--- a/src/languages/javascript.js
+++ b/src/languages/javascript.js
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@ export default function(hljs) {
         nextChar === "<" ||
         // the , gives away that this is not HTML
         // `<T, A extends keyof T, V>`
-        nextChar === ","
+        nextChar === "," ||
+        // the [ gives away that this is a type assertion, not HTML
+        // `<string[]>` in TypeScript type assertions
+        nextChar === "["
         ) {
         response.ignoreMatch();
         return;