diff --git a/ion/include/ion/unicode/utf8_decoder.h b/ion/include/ion/unicode/utf8_decoder.h
index 432b5c072..ca7efe5e2 100644
--- a/ion/include/ion/unicode/utf8_decoder.h
+++ b/ion/include/ion/unicode/utf8_decoder.h
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ public:
   }
   CodePoint nextCodePoint();
   CodePoint previousCodePoint();
+  const char * nextGlyphPosition();
+  const char * previousGlyphPosition();
   const char * stringPosition() const { return m_stringPosition; }
   static size_t CharSizeOfCodePoint(CodePoint c);
   static size_t CodePointToChars(CodePoint c, char * buffer, size_t bufferSize);
diff --git a/ion/src/shared/unicode/utf8_decoder.cpp b/ion/src/shared/unicode/utf8_decoder.cpp
index af0d59d46..ea02ba7b3 100644
--- a/ion/src/shared/unicode/utf8_decoder.cpp
+++ b/ion/src/shared/unicode/utf8_decoder.cpp
@@ -63,6 +63,30 @@ CodePoint UTF8Decoder::previousCodePoint() {
   return CodePoint(result);
 }
 
+const char * UTF8Decoder::nextGlyphPosition() {
+  assert(*m_stringPosition != 0 && (m_stringPosition == m_string || *(m_stringPosition - 1) != 0));
+  CodePoint followingCodePoint = nextCodePoint();
+  const char * resultGlyphPosition = m_stringPosition;
+  followingCodePoint = nextCodePoint();
+  while (followingCodePoint != UCodePointNull && followingCodePoint.isCombining()) {
+    resultGlyphPosition = m_stringPosition;
+    followingCodePoint = nextCodePoint();
+  }
+  m_stringPosition = resultGlyphPosition;
+  return resultGlyphPosition;
+}
+
+const char * UTF8Decoder::previousGlyphPosition() {
+  assert(m_stringPosition > m_string);
+  CodePoint previousCP = previousCodePoint();
+  const char * resultGlyphPosition = m_stringPosition;
+  while (m_stringPosition > m_string && previousCP.isCombining()) {
+    previousCP = previousCodePoint();
+    resultGlyphPosition = m_stringPosition;
+  }
+  return resultGlyphPosition;
+}
+
 size_t UTF8Decoder::CharSizeOfCodePoint(CodePoint c) {
   if (c <= 0x7F) {
     return 1;
diff --git a/ion/test/utf8_decoder.cpp b/ion/test/utf8_decoder.cpp
index 26248502a..5eb482509 100644
--- a/ion/test/utf8_decoder.cpp
+++ b/ion/test/utf8_decoder.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include <quiz.h>
 #include <ion/unicode/utf8_decoder.h>
+#include <ion/unicode/utf8_helper.h>
 
 void assert_decodes_to(const char * string, CodePoint c) {
   UTF8Decoder d(string);
@@ -12,6 +13,18 @@ void assert_previous_code_point_is_to(const char * string, const char * stringPo
   quiz_assert(d.previousCodePoint() == c);
 }
 
+void assert_code_point_at_next_glyph_position_is(const char * string, CodePoint c) {
+  UTF8Decoder d(string);
+  d.nextGlyphPosition();
+  quiz_assert(d.nextCodePoint() == c);
+}
+
+void assert_code_point_at_previous_glyph_position_is(const char * string, const char * stringPosition, CodePoint c) {
+  UTF8Decoder d(string, stringPosition);
+  d.previousGlyphPosition();
+  quiz_assert(d.nextCodePoint() == c);
+}
+
 QUIZ_CASE(ion_utf8_decode_forward) {
   assert_decodes_to("\x20", 0x20);
   assert_decodes_to("\xC2\xA2", 0xA2);
@@ -25,3 +38,16 @@ QUIZ_CASE(ion_utf8_decode_backwards) {
   assert_previous_code_point_is_to(a, a+4, *(a+3));
   assert_previous_code_point_is_to(a, a+6, *(a+5));
 }
+
+QUIZ_CASE(ion_utf8_decoder_next_glyph) {
+  const char * string = u8"a\u0065\u0301i";
+  assert_code_point_at_next_glyph_position_is(string, 'e');
+  assert_code_point_at_next_glyph_position_is(string+1, 'i');
+}
+
+QUIZ_CASE(ion_utf8_decoder_previous_glyph) {
+  const char * string = u8"a\u0065\u0301i";
+  const char * iPosition = UTF8Helper::CodePointSearch(string, 'i');
+  assert_code_point_at_previous_glyph_position_is(string, iPosition, 'e');
+  assert_code_point_at_previous_glyph_position_is(string,string+1, 'a');
+}