> Many would prefer to think a song has gone unchanged. They would not celebrate the process of change, but rather try to reproduce the past form faithfully.

An extremely important point.

I think most English-speaking people feel the same way. If you could hear it just once, would you rather hear "Jailhouse Rock" as originally recorded by Elvis, a faithful cover version, or Joe & Jane Zilch's   based on lyrics they didn't fully understand or remember, and played on classical guitar.

I admit, Joe & Jane might be very interesting, even entertaining, but most everyone would answer "Elvis." His version - which includes him as vocalist - is the authentic version.

The "folk process" that fascinates many of us bores and confuses far more. The same is true of analytic geometry (which has important practical applications). It depends on one's interests.

I guarantee you that far less than than 1% Americans have ever heard of the "folk process" and would not be very interested in it if they had. They have nothing to do with people on this thread, however, or what may interest us.