Alipur Sign Language is a

village sign language A village sign language, or village sign, also known as a shared sign language, is a local indigenous sign language used by both deaf and hearing in an area with a high incidence of congenital deafness. Meir ''et al.'' define a village sign languag ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is spoken in the town of

Alipur, Karnataka Alipur is a village located in Gauribidanur Taluk of Chikkaballapur District, Karnataka State, India. It is located off State Highway 94, 55 km from Kempegowda International Airport and 70 km from Bangalore. It is a Shia Muslim-maj ...

, a

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Muslim enclave with a high degree of

congenital deafness Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken la ...

. There are between 150 and 250 deaf people in Alipur, and there are approximately 10,000 hearing people speaking the language on a population of 26,000 (in 2015). The language has no official status and deaf children receive no formal education. This fact plus the increasing influence of the

Indian Sign Language Indo-Pakistani Sign Language (IPSL) is the predominant sign language in the subcontinent of South Asia, used by at least 15 million deaf signers. As with many sign languages, it is difficult to estimate numbers with any certainty, as the C ...

threaten the survival of Alipur Sign Language (or APSL). Sibaji Panda was the first person to officially document the language in 2012. During his study, Panda found out that the proportion of deaf population in Alipur was of approximately 0.75%, against 0.41% on national average (data from the 2011 census). The deaf community of Alipur helped Panda in his researches, particularly Mir Fazil Raza, a 53 year old former gram panchayat chief, who helped set up the Alipur Unity Society for the Deaf. Mr. Fazil Raza helped with translation from English to the sign language, conducted survey with the help of other members of the community, and served as an informator for the documentation of the language. Endogamous marriages in the town have led to this large population of deaf, but a deaf man cannot marry a deaf woman. Since there are no public records in the town, it is difficult to establish the veracity of this information. The sign language is used by many hearing people as well, with level of fluency that greatly varies. The language has a variety of ways to express numbers, using additions and subtractions to express numbers with high complexity. Mouth movements can be added to express bigger numbers. The majority of inhabitants in the town are

Shia Muslim Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

. The Shia Muslim population descend from

Bijapur Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...

after the down fall of

Adil Shahi Dynasty The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia,Salma Ahmed Farooqui, ''A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century'', (Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd., 2011), 174. and later Sunni Muslim,Muhammad Qasim Firishta's ...

and are proud of their culture and history. The younger generation is less interested in using the village sign language. Mobility and technology gives them access to the Internet and they travel to Bengaluru where they learn

and

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

. The lack of formal education is nevertheless a barrier for them to be able to use script-based applications (like text messaging) and there aren't many employment opportunities. A better understanding of the situation of the language could be beneficial for the population. Nobel School (A Private School in a Village) has recently started classes for the deaf children. However, There is a hope to re-open the government school for special children.

References

{{sign language navigation, state=collapsed Village sign languages Karnataka society Sign languages of India