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 langu ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is spoken in the town of

Alipur, Karnataka Alipur is a village located in the 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 Muslim-major ...

, a

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

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 spok ...

. 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 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 Mr. 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 Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

. The Shia Muslim population descend from

Bijapur Bijapur (officially 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 importa ...

after the down fall of

Adil Shahi Dynasty The Sultanate of Bijapur was an early modern kingdom in the western Deccan and South India, ruled by the Muslim Adil Shahi (or Adilshahi) dynasty. Bijapur had been a ''taraf'' (province) of the Bahmani Kingdom prior to its independence in 1490 ...

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

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

where they learn Indian Sign Language 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 and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

. The lack of formal education is nevertheless a barrier for them to be able to use script-based applications (like text messaging) and there are not 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 Language isolates of Asia