Dura

Dura (Dura: दुरा भुँ, romanized: Durā bʰũ) is an extinct language of Nepal. It has been classified in the West Bodish branch of Tibetan languages, though more recent work separates it out as an independent branch of Sino-Tibetan. Many of the Dura have switched to speaking Nepali, and the Dura language has sometimes been thought to be extinct. Some of the people who have switched to Nepali for their daily speech still use Dura for prayer.

The Himalayan Languages Project is working on recording additional knowledge of Dura. Around 1,500 words and 250 sentences in Dura have been recorded. The last known speaker of the language was supposedly the 82-year-old Soma Devi Dura (Soma Maya Dura), although professor Madhav Pokharel claims she did not speak Dura, but rather a Nepali-based "argot". A second-language speaker named Muktinath Ghimire has also been reported.

From Wikipedia · Dura language · CC BY-SA 4.0