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It is proposed in the present essay to give a brief outline, based on linguistic evidence only, of the state of civilization attained by the Tibeto-Burman race previous to the migration of the great Southern branch, and also to throw some light on the probable time of that migration. Of course, in all such inquiries anthropological evidence is now, and rightly, held to be a much more trustworthy guide than facts derived from the comparison of two or more languages, but results obtained from philological data alone are by no means to be altogether contemned. In the present case the geological exploration of the two countries is practically in its infancy, whilst even in Burma physical measurements of the population have not yet been systematically undertaken. It is clear, therefore, that we shall have to wait a quite indefinite time before any anthropological data are forthcoming. So far as is known, however, both the physical type and the idiosyncrasy of the two peoples are remarkably similar, and thus there is little fear that in comparing their languages we shall be trespassing against the canons of ethnology, for language and race are here, I think, nearly coterminous. All Tibetan or Burmese speaking people are not, of course, ethnically Tibetans or Burmans, but there can be no doubt that the bulk of them are, and that formerly they constituted but one race on the high plateau north of the Himalaya. The anthropological evidence, so far as it goes, points that way, whilst the linguistic evidence is overwhelming.

This paper examines the wide range of definitions of the basic linguistic concepts of competence and performance, particularly as these relate to problems involved in second-language teaching. It shows possible implications of linguistic theory for the theory and practice of second-language teaching. The paper also attempts to characterize some of the relevant general features of the process of second-language learning in terms of the theory of linguistic competence and performance. It presents a discussion and a tentative definition of crucial functions of the language teacher in second-language teaching in relation to the theory of linguistic competence and performance and points out some basic interrelations between linguistic theory and the task of the language teacher.

Do recent advances in linguistic science have any bearing on language tests? They do. But linguists like other scientists have a jargon all their own and their findings a re not easily interpreted. I explored the use of linguistic techniques and findings in tests in English a s a foreign language, 1 and found such promising results that a new movement in foreign language tests seems possible and worthwhile through a better understanding of linguistic science in that field. This article is only an introduction of course. It gives just enough of a view of what we mean by linguistic science to show how it can be used and what kind of a contribution it can make to language tests.

Lexical borrowing or the creation of new words denoting newly introduced foreign concepts by native lexical means may be purposefully directed by the collective effort of the intellectual circles which can influence language policy (linguists, writers, journalists, pedagogues, scientists etc.). In times of national oppression or social and political isolation, though, the response of a society to lexical borrowing is very often governed by intensified patriotic and nationalist feeling and the effort to preserve the purity of the national language may be unduly exaggerated. The linguistic purism of small nations is, as a rule, more intense than that of the big ones.

InGermany, the development of solo song was rapid throughout the 18th century, although no major composer’s output of songs could be called voluminous. Although Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), for example, wrote a good deal for the voice (more than 300 cantatas, several of them for solo voice and orchestra), he composed no more than five songs for solo voice and clavier. But it is from this trickle, increasing in size and importance with Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, that the great broad stream of Schubertian song derives. Bach’s five songs, transcribed in his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach’s Notenbuch, date from 1725. Their titles are: (1)’ so oft ich meine Tabakspfeife’; (2) ‘Bist du bei mir’; (3) ‘Gedenke doch’; (4) ‘Gieb dich zufrieden’; (5) ‘Willst du dein Herz mir schenken?’ The last song is sentimental, domestic; the first is heavily north Germanic in its philosophizing about the joys of smoking. The second, ‘Bist du bei mir’, a deceptively simple tune in which passion and spiritual power curiously combine, is the first great German Lied. ‘If thou art with me, then will I go joyfully to my death.’ The rapt ecstasy of the vocal line brings something of sensuousness to the religious fervour of the words. Everything is in the voice part, of course. The accompaniment is formal. It was to remain so until Mozart.

1. BILINGUALISM AND BORROWING. As early as 1886, Hermann Paul pointed out that all borrowing by one language from another is predicated on some minimum of bilingual mastery of the two languages.' For any large-scale borrowing a considerable group of bilinguals has to be assumed. The analysis of borrowing must therefore begin with an analysis of the behavior of bilingual speakers. A vast literature has come into being on the subject of borrowing, particularly in the historical studies of individual languages; but there is still room for discussion of the relationship between the observed behavior of bilingual speakers and the results of borrowing as detected by linguists. Any light that can be thrown on the question by a study of bilingual speakers should be welcome to all students interested in borrowing and in the general linguistic problems associated with this process.2 In the present article an effort will be made to define more precisely the terminology used in the linguistic analysis of borrowing, and to set up certain hypotheses concerning the process of borrowing. It should then be possible to test these by their usefulness of application to particular studies of bilingualism and borrowing.3