diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 7e4ccfa0..606f1e95 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -859,8 +859,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tree-sitter-highlight"
-version = "0.20.1"
+version = "0.20.2"
 dependencies = [
+ "lazy_static",
  "regex",
  "thiserror",
  "tree-sitter",
diff --git a/cli/src/main.rs b/cli/src/main.rs
index 18e50aad..7d2f6a17 100644
--- a/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -239,6 +239,11 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
                         .long("html")
                         .short("H"),
                 )
+                .arg(
+                    Arg::with_name("check")
+                        .help("Check that highlighting captures conform strictly to standards")
+                        .long("check"),
+                )
                 .arg(&scope_arg)
                 .arg(&time_arg)
                 .arg(&quiet_arg)
@@ -543,6 +548,7 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
             let time = matches.is_present("time");
             let quiet = matches.is_present("quiet");
             let html_mode = quiet || matches.is_present("html");
+            let should_check = matches.is_present("check");
             let paths = collect_paths(matches.value_of("paths-file"), matches.values_of("paths"))?;
 
             if html_mode && !quiet {
@@ -573,6 +579,25 @@ fn run() -> Result<()> {
                 };
 
                 if let Some(highlight_config) = language_config.highlight_config(language)? {
+                    if should_check {
+                        let names = highlight_config.nonconformant_capture_names();
+                        if names.is_empty() {
+                            eprintln!("All highlight captures conform to standards.");
+                        } else {
+                            eprintln!(
+                                "Non-standard highlight {} detected:",
+                                if names.len() > 1 {
+                                    "captures"
+                                } else {
+                                    "capture"
+                                }
+                            );
+                            for name in names {
+                                eprintln!("* {}", name);
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+
                     let source = fs::read(path)?;
                     if html_mode {
                         highlight::html(
diff --git a/highlight/Cargo.toml b/highlight/Cargo.toml
index e85ced8e..84c748b6 100644
--- a/highlight/Cargo.toml
+++ b/highlight/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 name = "tree-sitter-highlight"
 description = "Library for performing syntax highlighting with Tree-sitter"
-version = "0.20.1"
+version = "0.20.2"
 authors = [
   "Max Brunsfeld <maxbrunsfeld@gmail.com>",
   "Tim Clem <timothy.clem@gmail.com>",
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ rust-version.workspace = true
 crate-type = ["lib", "staticlib"]
 
 [dependencies]
+lazy_static = "1.2.0"
 regex = "1"
 thiserror = "1.0"
 
diff --git a/highlight/src/lib.rs b/highlight/src/lib.rs
index 8a79c624..ce3c3e06 100644
--- a/highlight/src/lib.rs
+++ b/highlight/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ pub mod c_lib;
 pub mod util;
 pub use c_lib as c;
 
+use lazy_static::lazy_static;
+use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
 use std::{iter, mem, ops, str, usize};
 use thiserror::Error;
@@ -14,6 +16,42 @@ const CANCELLATION_CHECK_INTERVAL: usize = 100;
 const BUFFER_HTML_RESERVE_CAPACITY: usize = 10 * 1024;
 const BUFFER_LINES_RESERVE_CAPACITY: usize = 1000;
 
+lazy_static! {
+    static ref STANDARD_CAPTURE_NAMES: HashSet<&'static str> = vec![
+        "attribute",
+        "carriage-return",
+        "comment",
+        "constant",
+        "constant.builtin",
+        "constructor",
+        "constructor.builtin",
+        "embedded",
+        "escape",
+        "function",
+        "function.builtin",
+        "keyword",
+        "number",
+        "module",
+        "operator",
+        "property",
+        "property.builtin",
+        "punctuation",
+        "punctuation.bracket",
+        "punctuation.delimiter",
+        "punctuation.special",
+        "string",
+        "string.special",
+        "tag",
+        "type",
+        "type.builtin",
+        "variable",
+        "variable.builtin",
+        "variable.parameter",
+    ]
+    .into_iter()
+    .collect();
+}
+
 /// Indicates which highlight should be applied to a region of source code.
 #[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub struct Highlight(pub usize);
@@ -321,6 +359,17 @@ impl HighlightConfiguration {
                 best_index.map(Highlight)
             }));
     }
+
+    // Return the list of this configuration's capture names that are neither present in the
+    // list of predefined 'canonical' names nor start with an underscore (denoting 'private' captures
+    // used as part of capture internals).
+    pub fn nonconformant_capture_names(&self) -> Vec<&String> {
+        return self
+            .names()
+            .iter()
+            .filter(|&n| !STANDARD_CAPTURE_NAMES.contains(n.as_str()))
+            .collect();
+    }
 }
 
 impl<'a> HighlightIterLayer<'a> {