Excerpted with permission from Davina Finds Her Vowels: A Book of Malayalam Vowels, Elizabeth Keyton, art by Kohan Kolam and Neel: Krishna Through Art, Vineeta and Arvind Kanoria, Adidev Press.

For years now, Elizabeth Keyton — popularly known as @eli.kutty on Instagram — has been using social media to not just learn Malayalam, but teach the language via interactive, creative learning tools.

The sign language alphabet in Malayalam is developed by the National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), in collaboration with All Kerala Association of the Deaf. The first uniform sign language ...