able to have a conversation or understand the language by listening". The survey was done in 2006 and 2013 as well, and by comparing those with the 2017 survey, notable trends were observed: the percentage of people who answered they would "be able to have a conversation in the Ainu language" declined in the age 60s group (2.3% in 2006, 1.9% in 2013, and 0.4% in 2017), but increased in the age 30s group (0% in 2006, 0% in 2013, and 2.3% in 2017). However, there was little change overall (0.7% in 2006, 0.9% in 2013, and 0.7% in 2017). Recognition The Japanese government made a decision to recognize Ainu as an indigenous language in June 2008. , the Japanese government is constructing a facility dedicated to preserving Ainu culture, including the language. This facility is called Upopoy, which is the first National Ainu museum that opened in Shiraoi, Hokkaido in July 2020. Upopoy is dedicated to promoting Ainu culture and language learning. Phonology Ainu syllables are (C)V(C); they have an obligatory vowel, and an optional syllable onset and coda consisting of one consonant. There are few consonant clusters. Vowels There are five vowels in Ainu: Consonants Plosives may be voiced between vowels and after nasals. Both and are realized as , and becomes before and at the end of syllables. A glottal stop is often inserted at the beginning of words, before an accented vowel, but is non-phonemic. The Ainu language also has a pitch accent system. Generally, words containing affixes have a high pitch on a syllable in the stem. This will typically fall on the first syllable if that is long (has a final consonant or a diphthong), and will otherwise fall on the second syllable, though there are exceptions to this generalization. Typology and grammar Typologically, Ainu is similar in word order (and some aspects of phonology) to Japanese. Ainu has a canonical word order of subject, object, verb, and uses postpositions rather than prepositions. Nouns can cluster to modify one another; the head comes at the end. Verbs, which are inherently either transitive or intransitive, accept various derivational affixes. Ainu does not have grammatical gender. Plurals are indicated by a suffix. Classical Ainu, the language of the , is polysynthetic, with incorporation of nouns and adverbs; this is greatly reduced in the modern colloquial language. Applicatives may be used in Ainu to place nouns in