"Recently, sign language varieties used by the younger generation and the older generation are diverging rapidly. A number of factors are responsible for this development. Firstly, younger deaf people from Alipur have become increasingly mobile and frequently travel to the city (Bengaluru), where they meet deaf friends who use American Sign Language (ASL).4 Deaf people can now travel more easily because of the complimentary bus pass given to disabled people by the state government, which means that deaf people do not have to pay for any travel within the state. Secondly, the two deaf teachers at the deaf school in Alipur often use ASL in the school. One of them is a native of Alipur who was educated in Bengaluru up to high school level and uses both APSL and ASL. The other teacher is an ASL user from Bengaluru and has acquired APSL after corning to Alipur. Therefore, ASL influence has affected the deaf children in Alipur who attend the deaf school. Finally, internet has become available on mobile phones, and the deaf signers are fascinated with the other sign languages that they can see on videos posted on the internet.

The above factors pose a serious threat to APSL and might affect the language's vitality in the near future. When the first sign language data were collected in 2007, there was no literacy among deaf people except for two individuals who attended a deaf school outside Alipur, and no influence of other sign language was noticeable. For instance, no fingerspelling was observed in the first data collected in 2007. Some deaf people of the older generation have started complaining why the children are "using strange Bengaluru signs". Now communication is sometimes difficult between younger deaf people with ASL and English skills and those who are sole users ofAPSL and have no knowledge ofASL and English."

"One of the unique characteristics of the village is the interaction and communication between the hearing and deaf villagers. [...] Sign language is used in all spheres of life, where both deaf and hearing people often communicate without much difficulty. [...] Most retailers in Alipur seem to have some level of signing proficiency in order to communicate with deaf customers. Due to the extensive network of multiple cross-cutting relationships between extended families, all families have some connection or other with deaf rela­tives, either immediate or further removed (e.g. a second cousin).

This situation has resulted in a need for communication with deaf indi­viduals for almost all villagers, who are exposed to sign language in various forms and with greater or lesser limitations. Recently, there have been efforts to promote the use of APSL in Alipur more actively. Interestingly, Alipur has its own television channel (Ali Channel), which recently began broad­ casting some APSL signs as a community initiative (see Dikyuva, Escobedo Delgado, Panda & Zeshan, this volume). The multimedia video with APSL vocabularies and dialogues has been helpful for spreading APSL among the villagers."