diff --git a/src/go/types/NOTES b/src/go/types/NOTES
index a0c78bd383..31015c4390 100644
--- a/src/go/types/NOTES
+++ b/src/go/types/NOTES
@@ -4,13 +4,15 @@ TODO
 - interface embedding doesn't take care of literal type constraints yet
   (need an allTypes list, like we have an allMethods list?)
 - type assertions on/against parameterized types
+- consolidate Signature.tparams and Signature.mtparams?
+- can we always set Named.targs?
+- use []*TypeParam for tparams in subst
 
 OPEN ISSUES
 - using a contract and enumerating type arguments currently leads to an error (e.g. func f(type T C(T)) (x T) ... )
 - contracts slip through in places where only types are permitted
-- parameterized interface methods (of type bounds) need to be customized (subst) for context
 
-DESIGN/IMPLEMENTATION DECISIONS
+DESIGN/IMPLEMENTATION
 - 12/4/2019: do not allow parenthesized generic uninstantiated types (unless instantiated implicitly)
   In other words: generic types must always be instantiated before they can be used in any form
   More generally: Only permit type instantiation T(x) in type context, when the type is a named type.
@@ -19,3 +21,11 @@ DESIGN/IMPLEMENTATION DECISIONS
 
 - 12/12/2019: represent type bounds always as (possibly unnamed) interfaces
   (contracts are user syntactic sugar)
+
+- 12/19/2019: Type parameters don't act like type aliases. For instance:
+
+        func f(type T1, T2)(x T1) T2 { return x }
+
+  is not valid, no matter how T1 and T2 are instantiated (but if T1 and T2 were type aliases with
+  both of them having type int, the return x would be valid). In fact, the type parameters act more
+  like named types. With their underlying type being the interface by which they are bound.
diff --git a/src/go/types/call.go b/src/go/types/call.go
index 84bf6026f5..056cef8337 100644
--- a/src/go/types/call.go
+++ b/src/go/types/call.go
@@ -106,7 +106,9 @@ func (check *Checker) call(x *operand, e *ast.CallExpr) exprKind {
 			}
 
 			// instantiate function signature
-			x.typ = check.instantiate(x.pos(), sig, targs, poslist)
+			sig = check.instantiate(x.pos(), sig, targs, poslist).(*Signature)
+			sig.tparams = nil // signature is not generic anymore
+			x.typ = sig
 			x.mode = value
 			x.expr = e
 			return expression
@@ -260,7 +262,7 @@ func (check *Checker) arguments(call *ast.CallExpr, sig *Signature, args []*oper
 	ddd := call.Ellipsis.IsValid()
 
 	// set up parameters
-	params := sig.params
+	sig_params := sig.params
 	if sig.variadic {
 		if ddd {
 			// variadic_func(a, b, c...)
@@ -282,7 +284,7 @@ func (check *Checker) arguments(call *ast.CallExpr, sig *Signature, args []*oper
 				for len(vars) < nargs {
 					vars = append(vars, NewParam(last.pos, last.pkg, last.name, typ))
 				}
-				params = NewTuple(vars...)
+				sig_params = NewTuple(vars...)
 				npars = nargs
 			} else {
 				// nargs < npars-1
@@ -312,19 +314,20 @@ func (check *Checker) arguments(call *ast.CallExpr, sig *Signature, args []*oper
 	if len(sig.tparams) > 0 {
 		// TODO(gri) provide position information for targs so we can feed
 		//           it to the instantiate call for better error reporting
-		targs := check.infer(call.Rparen, sig.tparams, params, args)
+		targs := check.infer(call.Rparen, sig.tparams, sig_params, args)
 		if targs == nil {
 			return
 		}
 		rsig = check.instantiate(call.Pos(), sig, targs, nil).(*Signature)
-		params = check.subst(call.Pos(), params, sig.tparams, targs).(*Tuple)
+		rsig.tparams = nil // signature is not generic anymore
+		sig_params = check.subst(call.Pos(), sig_params, sig.tparams, targs).(*Tuple)
 		// TODO(gri) Optimization: We don't need to check arguments
 		//           from which we inferred parameter types.
 	}
 
 	// check arguments
 	for i, a := range args {
-		check.assignment(a, params.vars[i].typ, "argument")
+		check.assignment(a, sig_params.vars[i].typ, "argument")
 	}
 
 	return
diff --git a/src/go/types/subst.go b/src/go/types/subst.go
index 2c11799987..7f9759c3ca 100644
--- a/src/go/types/subst.go
+++ b/src/go/types/subst.go
@@ -230,7 +230,9 @@ func (subst *subster) typ(typ Type) Type {
 		results := subst.tuple(t.results)
 		if recv != t.recv || params != t.params || results != t.results {
 			copy := *t
-			copy.tparams = nil // TODO(gri) is this correct? (another indication that perhaps tparams belong to the function decl)
+			// note: we leave (copy.)tparams alone - if a caller instantiated a function
+			//       via instantiate (calling subst) it is the caller's responsibility
+			//       to nil out this field
 			copy.recv = recv
 			copy.params = params
 			copy.results = results
diff --git a/src/go/types/testdata/tmp.go2 b/src/go/types/testdata/tmp.go2
index 4ba882f949..cbb358b144 100644
--- a/src/go/types/testdata/tmp.go2
+++ b/src/go/types/testdata/tmp.go2
@@ -3,75 +3,3 @@
 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
 package p
-
-func f(type P interface{ m() P })(x P)
-
-type T(type P) P
-
-func (_ T(P)) m() T(P)
-
-func _(type Q)(x Q) {
-	f(T(Q))(T(Q)(x))
-}
-
-// TODO(gri) Once the code above works, check the code below.
-/*
-type NumericAbs(type T) interface {
-	Abs() T
-}
-
-func AbsDifference(type T NumericAbs(T))()
-
-type OrderedAbs(type T) T
-
-func (a OrderedAbs(T)) Abs() OrderedAbs(T)
-
-func OrderedAbsDifference(type T)() {
-	AbsDifference(OrderedAbs(T))()
-}
-*/
-
-/*
-package p
-
-type T(type _ interface { a() }, _ interface{}) struct{}
-
-type A(type P) struct{ x P }
-
-func (_ A(P)) a() {}
-
-var _ T(A(int), int)
-*/
-
-/*
-type NumericAbs(type T) interface {
-	Abs() T
-}
-
-func AbsDifference(type T NumericAbs(T))(x T)
-
-type OrderedAbs(type T) T
-
-func (a OrderedAbs(T)) Abs() T
-
-func OrderedAbsDifference(type T)(x T) {
-	AbsDifference(OrderedAbs(T)(x))
-}
-*/
-
-// TODO(gri) Once the code above works, check the code below.
-/*
-type NumericAbs(type T) interface {
-	Abs() T
-}
-
-func AbsDifference(type T NumericAbs(T))()
-
-type OrderedAbs(type T) T
-
-func (a OrderedAbs(T)) Abs() T
-
-func OrderedAbsDifference(type T)() {
-	AbsDifference(OrderedAbs(T))()
-}
-*/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/go/types/testdata/typeinst2.go2 b/src/go/types/testdata/typeinst2.go2
index 367ee23d25..35f3cb25d6 100644
--- a/src/go/types/testdata/typeinst2.go2
+++ b/src/go/types/testdata/typeinst2.go2
@@ -78,3 +78,41 @@ func Values (type T) (r Receiver(T)) T {
 func (it Iterator(K)) Next() K {
         return Values(Pair(K))(it.r).key
 }
+
+// A more complex test case testing type bounds (extracted from linalg.go2 and reduced to essence)
+
+contract NumericAbs(T) {
+	T Abs() T
+}
+
+func AbsDifference(type T NumericAbs)(x T)
+
+type OrderedAbs(type T) T
+
+func (a OrderedAbs(T)) Abs() OrderedAbs(T)
+
+func OrderedAbsDifference(type T)(x T) {
+	AbsDifference(OrderedAbs(T)(x))
+}
+
+// same code, reduced to essence
+
+func g(type P interface{ m() P })(x P)
+
+type T4(type P) P
+
+func (_ T4(P)) m() T4(P)
+
+func _(type Q)(x Q) {
+	g(T4(Q)(x))
+}
+
+// Another test case that caused  problems in the past
+
+type T5(type _ interface { a() }, _ interface{}) struct{}
+
+type A(type P) struct{ x P }
+
+func (_ A(P)) a() {}
+
+var _ T5(A(int), int)
diff --git a/src/go/types/testdata/typeparams.go2 b/src/go/types/testdata/typeparams.go2
index 83aa57c91e..bd06f1d2e4 100644
--- a/src/go/types/testdata/typeparams.go2
+++ b/src/go/types/testdata/typeparams.go2
@@ -151,6 +151,27 @@ func _(type P)() {
         f10(S2(P, int, P){}, S2(P, float32, bool){})
 }
 
+// corner case for type inference
+// (was bug: after instanting f11, the type-checker didn't mark f11 as non-generic)
+
+func f11(type T)()
+
+func _() {
+	f11(int)()
+}
+
+// the previous example was extracted from
+
+func f12(type T interface{m() T})()
+
+type A(type T) T
+
+func (a A(T)) m() A(T)
+
+func _(type T)() {
+	f12(A(T))()
+}
+
 // method expressions
 
 func (_ S1(P)) m()