Dura language

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Dura is an extinct language that was once spoken in central Nepal by the Dura people, mainly in Lamjung District (with some in nearby Tanahu). Most Dura have switched to Nepali, though a few still use Dura for prayer. The language died with the death of its last fluent speaker, Soma Devi Dura, who was 82 years old and died in the early 2010s. In the 2011 census there were about 2,160 Dura people; other counts have put the number between roughly 3,400 and 5,700.

Linguists classify Dura as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is linked to the Greater Magaric group, and some researchers place it in its own Dura–Tandrange branch. A closely related language, Tandrange, is spoken in a few Gurung villages; its speakers do not identify as Dura.

Documentation efforts: The Himalayan Languages Project has recorded about 1,500 words and 250 sentences in Dura. A 125-word Swadesh list and numerals are documented, and linguist Schorer (2016) provides Proto-Dura reconstructions. Dura remains of interest to researchers studying Himalayan languages.