conlangs1-11  Exercise 3: Predicting Change in Meren
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Three changes after fifty years:

  New word:      papo "bridge", coined because the people needed one.
                 Accept: this is how a language grows.

  New use:       Speakers start using sena "good" to mean "well done" as a
                 greeting, as in a response to news ("sena!").
                 Accept if it spreads and is understood: it is a natural
                 extension.

  Drift:         Children say tekasa as teksa, dropping the unstressed
                 vowel. Over time the past ending -sa may shorten.
                 This one needs care: it breaks the (C)V(n) syllable rule
                 and changes the grammar. The community must decide whether to
                 accept the spoken form or keep the written form, and a
                 language with native speakers will probably follow the
                 children.

The lesson: new words are easy to accept, new uses need watching, and drift
is the hardest, because the speakers, not the keeper, are the ones who cause it.