When this woman dies, a rare language may also disappear

Plans are being made to extend medical help to an octogenarian woman in Nepal who is the last known speaker of a minority language.

None of the rest of Soma Devi Dura's family speak Dura, despite being from the same ethnic group.

The only other person who could speak the language died last August.



Now Soma Devi Dura's health is ailing at her home in the hills of western Nepal, and she has severely impaired sight and hearing.

In order to communicate with her husband, children and grandchildren she has to use other languages, because she is now believed to be the only surviving speaker of Dura, which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family.

Nepal has more than 100 tongues, several with fewer than 100 speakers each.