Shilahite

Shilahite (KARI: Shīlahīyat; Square Script: שילהית) is the official language used by the Order of Undergraduates of Singapore, a fraternity in (whichever university the author ends up in future).

General information
Named after Shiloh (Shīlahu; שילה), the pre-royal capital of Israel, it is a constructed language for formal usage. It is the language of official documents, and is only ever spoken in either highly formalized or structured contexts, ranging from drill commands to court verbatim of the King, the head of the Order. Shilahite may be written in the Latin alphabet via the KARI (King Aryahu Romanization Index); while use is widespread, only Square Script may be used for official writing.

Before the formation of the Order, King Aryahu I thought that a non-English language should be used in a formal context to add prestige, being inspired by the Vatican's use of Ecclesiastical Latin. Since Hebrew and Arabic were both attributed liturgical status, he decided to come up with a Semitic language that was based on both in vocabulary, but differing greatly in inflection.

A treatise of the Shilahite language, Yā Sakurāwatu, is still under compilation by the Royal Commission of the Shilahite Language (RCSL). Yā Sakurāwatu contains a dictionary and rules on the grammar of the language.

Vowels
Only vowels with mater lectionis (י, ו)  are notated Square Script, but all vowels are written in KARI notation. Vowel pronunciation is much more flexible than that of consonants and may be spoken in whichever manner the speaker feels most comfortable in. Long vowels, ā ī ū, are simply longer in duration than their short counterparts, a i u. Here the alif is used as a null consonant.

Alphabet
Difficult consonants: The consonants ע ח ק ט ס צ are emphatic consonants.
 * א /ʔ/ is the stop in between "uh ' oh"; ע ' /ʕ/, ח kh /ħ/ and ק q /q/ are versions of א /ʔ/, ה h /h/ and כ k /k/ pronounced further back in the throat.
 * The consonants, ט th /ʈ/ ,ס s /ʂ/, צ ch /ʈʂ/ are retroflex versions of t, s and ch, pronounced at the roof of the tongue.

Registers
The Shilahite language consists of a spectrum of registers, with High Shilahite (HS) ('alīyêh; עליה) as the higher tier and Shilahite Vulgate (SV) (məlwəfīyat; מלופית) as the common dialect. Generally, High Shilahite is used for communication with members of the Sab' - the seven-man council of government - while Shilahite Vulgate is employed in other contexts. The following are the recognised dialects by RCSL:
 * Royal Shilahite. Used during communication with the King. Special pronouns are used, such as yā dawlā tangusā יא דולא תנגשא, "you".
 * Sevener Register.

Definite article
Definiteness in Shilahite is marked by the "wêh" suffix "(wêh sawfī; וה סופי)" and the particle "yā". The suffix "wah" is attached to the end of a noun to mark definiteness in general, while "yā" performs a variety of functions: yā is used as a definite marker only when weh is a suffix at the end of a phrase. The weh suffix is gender declinable, which distinguishes Shilahite from other Semitic languages:
 * Marks uniqueness: yā Alāhawa יא אלהו (the) God
 * Definiteness of a construct noun: yā taurat i Dawlatū יא תורת דולתו the taurat of the State
 * A particle for address: yā Alāhā אלהא יא O God!
 * zawg-awa זוגו the husband
 * zawg-aiwa זוגיו the husbands
 * zawgat-ū זוגתו the wife
 * zawgāwat-ū זוגותו the wives