First view above / overlapping second in LinearLayout

Or you can stick with Linear Layout, but place a RelativeLayout within it, as a child. You can than place your TextViews withing the RelativeLayout, so they'll inheret properties from RelativeLayout. You can then still use your LinearLayout for other views. http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/RelativeLayout.html

If all you want is to overlap the two views vertically, then use this XML:

<LinearLayout  
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/firstTextView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#00000000"
        android:text="First View" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/secondTextView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#00000000"
        android:layout_marginTop="-13dp"
        android:text="Second View"/>
</LinearLayout>

What worked for me and probably will work for you is that:

1. Wrap your 2 TextViews with RelativeLayout instead of LinearLayout and set android:clipChildren="false". This will prevent the overlapping portion from being clipped.
2. Layout the 2nd TextView below the first TextView
3. In the code, call bringToFront() on the first TextView. By default, the first textview is drawn first and will be below the second textview. Calling bringToFront() will change that order.

So the layout can be something like this:

<RelativeLayout  
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" 
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" 
android:clipChildren="false">

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/firstTextView"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="#00000000"
    android:text="First View" />

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/secondTextView"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_below="@id/firstTextView"
    android:background="#00000000"
    android:layout_marginTop="-13dp"
    android:text="Second View"/>
</RelativeLayout>

and:

TextView firstTextView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.firstTextView);
firstTextView.bringToFront();