Dura is a critically endangered language of Nepal, and the ethnic group that has historically spoken it. It has been classified in the West Bodish branch of Tibetan languages, though more recent work separates it out as an independent branch of Tibeto-Burman. 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 only for saying prayers.
The ethnic Dura people mostly live in the Lamjung District, with some in the neighboring Tanahu District, of the Gandaki Zone of central Nepal. They mostly live on farms in hilly country. Different recent census counts have reported the number of Dura people anywhere from 3,397 to 5,676.
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 is the 82-year old Soma Devi Dura.
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“The “sayings” of a community, its proverbs, are its characteristic comment upon life; they imply its history, suggest its attitude toward the world and its way of accepting life. Such an idiom makes the finest language any writer can have; and he can never get it with a notebook. He himself must be able to think and feel in that speech—it is a gift from heart to heart.”
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