NEPAL

Nepali linguists have come across an 82-year-old woman who they believe is the last speaker of the Dura language, and hope to record the language before she dies.

Soma Devi Dura is a rich source of Dura folktales and songs, but the mother of six is also partially deaf and blind and in poor health.

"She is just like the setting sun on the mountain," said Kedar Bilash Nagila, who has compiled 2,300 words in the language for his doctorate studies. "If she dies the future of Dura language will be gloomy, uncertain or it will be gone for ever."

She lives in Duradanda village in the Himalayan mountains, about 80km (50 miles) west of Kathmandu. The only other person believed to be able to have a Dura conversation with her -- a woman in a nearby village -- died last August, Nagila said.

One of the world's 6,500 languages vanishes every two weeks on average, according to some language experts.

Soma Devi now talks to family and friends either in Nepali or Gurung. There are more than 100 minority languages and dialects spoken in Nepal, but many are endangered, partly because the medium of instruction in schools is Nepali or English.

"When I was in school I had two Dura friends who spoke Nepali but knew nothing about their own language," 38-year-old Nagila said. "Soma Devi is a prize find."

Nagila wants to take Soma Devi to Kathmandu for medical treatment, but does not have enough money.

He eventually plans to compile a dictionary and grammar of the language, which belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family.

He hopes children from the 5,000-strong Dura community will be encouraged to study the language, just as others study Latin or Sanskrit.

"This can save the heritage of one community that is on the verge of extinction," he said.