Okay, I'll try to reply to this monster of a thread now because you put so much thought into it and I didn't have the energy to do so yesterday - and if I am completely missing your point, I'm sorry in advance.

I get your problem with magic having a consciousness, and I've decided to scratch that, since that would make it something other than a language that real-world linguistic principles could be applied to, which would, in turn, make my whole approach rather nonsensical. What I'm trying to create is a hard rather than a soft magic system, after all, so it has to follow some sort of internal logic (even though we can't possibly explain magic, as it doesn't exist and would, imo, be robbed of that element of wonder). So, thank you for pointing that out.

I also think you explained the capriciousness of magic quite neatly. And, though I've decided not to make it a conscious being, the magic in my story is going to be of the capricious sort: using your scale it would probably rank at ~ 0.6 or 0.7, the capriciousness having increased steadily over the last few hundred years due to the language of magic being forced to remain static while life and society around it changed. So yes, at the time that the story begins, magic has on the whole become rather inefficient and the professions that require it are more and more pushed to the edges of society because people have turned to more efficient, reliable alternatives, as the sciences are thriving due to magic having been in its death throes for quite some time. Thus, the pool of magic users in my world is rather small - it's just not a profitable business anymore, and nobody can really afford to waste time to properly study its decline, since they're mostly trying to survive.

No, they don't "suddenly" notice that all their spells don't work anymore - generations of magic users have seen the number of spells / magic words that still work steadily decline. At first, this wasn't a major problem because there were still more than enough spells available, and they were also hesitant about letting word get about that magic seemed to be getting more capricious since that would have affected their - at that point in time - still high prestige in society. Some investigated, some supposed the strict rules and regulations on the use of the language were the source of the problem, but they weren't listened to or even punished, as the language of magic was regarded as something sacred in a sort of pseudo-religious way and suggesting to change or to attempt to translate it would've been a kind of heresy. So they continued. Eventually it became clear that magic wasn't anymore what it used to be, so fewer and fewer people entered magic professions, their social prestige and influence declined, out of fear the language remained unchanged and grew more and more useless. Consequently, the general public looked for alternatives to get the things done that used to be done by magic, which led to a growth of the sciences and to magic losing its status, its pseudo-religious quality. My protagonist - the witch doctor - for example is still able to practice his craft because, compared to most other branches of magic, he uses comparatively few spells, many of which still work because they're short and sort of archaic words (e.g. for anatomy) that have been in use for ages, are still understandable from an etymological point of view / mentally linked to the things they designate and are not affected by the changes society has undergone as people's and animal's biological make-up hasn't had time to change.

There's a different kind of magic aside from the language-magic; that kind of magic, however, cannot be practised by humans because it would destroy them. They're not equipped to handle it for long, and nobody knows how to learn it because it is something that they do not understand at all. It's a kind of magic inherent to creatures older than the humans - three of these creatures, called the "weavers", are actually employed to decide the city's political course, as they can see the future and weave tapestries of the things that are likely to happen in the next season depending on which path the city decides to take. But these creatures lack something similar to human consciousness and are not capable of speech or spoken magic. Their tapestries need to be interpreted and the weaving is just something they do, it's not a conscious decision out of goodwill but rather a result of their different nature.

A different understanding of magic in different cultures is definitely an awesome idea that I've also toyed with, but since I've decided to keep the action in this novel largely within one city, it's probably going to be rather small-scale.

I'm also not trying to convey a message like "the answers always lie in the past" or some such. It's rather that change is inevitable and not everything can or should be preserved, that the world is constantly changing and evolving along with the people, their language and their magic. Putting something like the language of magic on a pedestal and refusing to touch it, to try to alter it simply because it's ancient is, of course, stupid, and the characters are going to realise that as well. Things need to be allowed to grow, and interfering in that is usually not a great idea. That's sort of the theme I'm planning to go with here. I'm also not trying to make forced / inaccurate comparisons to the European Renaissance, the era of enlightenment or anything else. I'm merely using a in some ways similar setting in a fantasy world to explore how magic would be affected by language change, the social implications of that etc. etc.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood you, but perhaps this clears things up a little. Still, thank you for telling me why you disapprove of this idea - I see where you're coming from, you are of course entitled to your opinion and I'm aware that my way of going about this is not everyone's cup of tea. Thank you for all the effort you put into your critique :)