Re: this is what I got in the mail.

Garth Wallace scripsit:

> Technically, you have copyright as soon as you create an original work.
> However, it's useful to have proof that you're the creator in case you
> ever need to prove it in court.
Absolutely, but a language does not count as a "work", precisely because
it can't be fixed in tangible form.  A grammar book, or a dictionary
(a simple wordlist is a borderline case), or a chrestomathy certainly
is copyrighted, but a language as a whole, no.  Even the name of the
language cannot be trademarked since it is not being used in commerce.

In particular, if Sally's person had decided to be rude and use Teonaht
as his "Dwarvish", pointing people to Sally's site for linguistic
information, and then he or others had written original works in
"Dwarvish", Sally would not be able to stop them.

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_

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