diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/FieldMapper.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/FieldMapper.java
index a9838503566..fd35398a9dc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/FieldMapper.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/FieldMapper.java
@@ -421,8 +421,6 @@ public abstract class FieldMapper extends Mapper implements Cloneable {
             builder.field("index_options", indexOptionToString(fieldType().indexOptions()));
         }
 
-        doXContentAnalyzers(builder, includeDefaults);
-
         if (fieldType().similarity() != null) {
             builder.field("similarity", fieldType().similarity().name());
         } else if (includeDefaults) {
@@ -439,15 +437,26 @@ public abstract class FieldMapper extends Mapper implements Cloneable {
         }
     }
 
-    protected void doXContentAnalyzers(XContentBuilder builder, boolean includeDefaults) throws IOException {
+    protected final void doXContentAnalyzers(XContentBuilder builder, boolean includeDefaults) throws IOException {
+        if (fieldType.tokenized() == false) {
+            return;
+        }
         if (fieldType().indexAnalyzer() == null) {
             if (includeDefaults) {
                 builder.field("analyzer", "default");
             }
-        } else if (includeDefaults || fieldType().indexAnalyzer().name().startsWith("_") == false && fieldType().indexAnalyzer().name().equals("default") == false) {
-            builder.field("analyzer", fieldType().indexAnalyzer().name());
-            if (fieldType().searchAnalyzer().name().equals(fieldType().indexAnalyzer().name()) == false) {
-                builder.field("search_analyzer", fieldType().searchAnalyzer().name());
+        } else {
+            boolean hasDefaultIndexAnalyzer = fieldType().indexAnalyzer().name().equals("default");
+            boolean hasDifferentSearchAnalyzer = fieldType().searchAnalyzer().name().equals(fieldType().indexAnalyzer().name()) == false;
+            boolean hasDifferentSearchQuoteAnalyzer = fieldType().searchAnalyzer().name().equals(fieldType().searchQuoteAnalyzer().name()) == false;
+            if (includeDefaults || hasDefaultIndexAnalyzer == false || hasDifferentSearchAnalyzer || hasDifferentSearchQuoteAnalyzer) {
+                builder.field("analyzer", fieldType().indexAnalyzer().name());
+                if (hasDifferentSearchAnalyzer || hasDifferentSearchQuoteAnalyzer) {
+                    builder.field("search_analyzer", fieldType().searchAnalyzer().name());
+                    if (hasDifferentSearchQuoteAnalyzer) {
+                        builder.field("search_quote_analyzer", fieldType().searchQuoteAnalyzer().name());
+                    }
+                }
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/StringFieldMapper.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/StringFieldMapper.java
index 918731d0244..05ef8c88e0c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/StringFieldMapper.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/StringFieldMapper.java
@@ -404,6 +404,7 @@ public class StringFieldMapper extends FieldMapper implements AllFieldMapper.Inc
     @Override
     protected void doXContentBody(XContentBuilder builder, boolean includeDefaults, Params params) throws IOException {
         super.doXContentBody(builder, includeDefaults, params);
+        doXContentAnalyzers(builder, includeDefaults);
 
         if (includeDefaults || fieldType().nullValue() != null) {
             builder.field("null_value", fieldType().nullValue());
@@ -417,16 +418,7 @@ public class StringFieldMapper extends FieldMapper implements AllFieldMapper.Inc
         if (includeDefaults || positionIncrementGap != POSITION_INCREMENT_GAP_USE_ANALYZER) {
             builder.field("position_increment_gap", positionIncrementGap);
         }
-        NamedAnalyzer searchQuoteAnalyzer = fieldType().searchQuoteAnalyzer();
-        if (searchQuoteAnalyzer != null && !searchQuoteAnalyzer.name().equals(fieldType().searchAnalyzer().name())) {
-            builder.field("search_quote_analyzer", searchQuoteAnalyzer.name());
-        } else if (includeDefaults) {
-            if (searchQuoteAnalyzer == null) {
-                builder.field("search_quote_analyzer", "default");
-            } else {
-                builder.field("search_quote_analyzer", searchQuoteAnalyzer.name());
-            }
-        }
+
         if (includeDefaults || ignoreAbove != Defaults.IGNORE_ABOVE) {
             builder.field("ignore_above", ignoreAbove);
         }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java
index 6114185ccf6..f100182ebf5 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.test.InternalSettingsPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.VersionUtils;
 import org.junit.Before;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -280,6 +281,33 @@ public class SimpleStringMappingTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testSearchAnalyzerSerialization() throws IOException {
+        String mapping = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type")
+                .startObject("properties")
+                    .startObject("field")
+                        .field("type", "string")
+                        .field("analyzer", "standard")
+                        .field("search_analyzer", "keyword")
+                    .endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject().endObject().string();
+
+        DocumentMapper mapper = parser.parse("type", new CompressedXContent(mapping));
+        assertEquals(mapping,  mapper.mappingSource().toString());
+
+        // special case: default index analyzer
+        mapping = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type")
+                .startObject("properties")
+                    .startObject("field")
+                        .field("type", "string")
+                        .field("analyzer", "default")
+                        .field("search_analyzer", "keyword")
+                    .endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject().endObject().string();
+
+        mapper = parser.parse("type", new CompressedXContent(mapping));
+        assertEquals(mapping,  mapper.mappingSource().toString());
+    }
+
     private Map<String, Object> getSerializedMap(String fieldName, DocumentMapper mapper) throws Exception {
         FieldMapper fieldMapper = mapper.mappers().smartNameFieldMapper(fieldName);
         XContentBuilder builder = JsonXContent.contentBuilder().startObject();