未来的太空旅行会造成何种语言交流问题

科学家和工程师们正在为可能在遥远的未来进入星际空间(指星体与星体之间的空间)做准备。

A new report examines the possible problem of changes in language on long space trips.

一份新的报告调查了长途太空旅行中语言变化可能出现的问题。

Only two spacecraft from Earth have reached the mysterious area known as interstellar space. Scientists identify interstellar space as the area outside the area of particles and magnetic fields created by the sun.

只有两艘来自地球的宇宙飞船到达了被称为星际空间的神秘区域。科学家认为星际空间是指太阳产生的粒子和磁场之外的区域。

Experts believe it will likely take many years before the technology and equipment are developed to send humans to this unexplored area of space. But if it does happen, massive spaceships could carry humans on long trips to distant stars. Two American researchers have explored one possible problem with such travel.

专家们认为，将人类送到这个尚未探索的太空区域所需的技术和设备，可能需要很多年的时间才能研发出来。但如果真的发生了，巨大的宇宙飞船可以载着人类进行到遥远星球的长途旅行。两名美国研究人员已经探索了这种旅行可能存在的一个问题。

They considered the possibility that changes in human language could develop over time and lead to major communication problems with people on Earth.

他们认为，随着时间的推移，人类语言可能会发生变化，从而导致与地球上的人类发生重大交流问题。

The language experts are professors Andrew McKenzie from the University of Kansas, and Jeffrey Punske, of Southern Illinois University.The two recently published a paper on the subject that appears in the European Space Agencys online publication Acta Futura.

堪萨斯大学的安德鲁·麦肯齐教授和南伊利诺伊大学的杰弗里·庞斯克教授，是研究该问题的语言专家。两人最近就这个问题发表了一篇论文，文章发表在欧洲航天局的在线出版物《未来学报》上。

The paper considers very long trips necessary to reach interstellar space, estimated to be about 18 billion kilometers from Earth. It also examines the possibility of future colonization of distant stars.

该论文认为，要到达星际空间，需要进行非常长的旅行。星际空间距离地球约180亿公里。它还研究了未来殖民遥远星球的可能性。

Languages naturally change as communities grow more isolated from each other, the researchers note in the paper. The long isolation of a community could lead to enough differences in language to make it impossible for community members back home to understand.

研究人员在这篇论文中指出，随着社群彼此越来越孤立，语言自然会发生变化。一个社群的长期隔离可能会导致语言上的巨大差异，从而使得回到家乡的社群成员无法理解。

"If youre on this (spaceship) for 10 generations, new concepts will emerge, new social issues will come up,and people will create ways of talking about them," McKenzie said in a statement.Such vocabulary would become specific to only that spaceship.

“如果你在这艘(宇宙飞船)上生活了10代人，新的概念就会出现，新的社会问题就会出现，人们就会创造出讨论这些问题的方式。”麦肯齐在一份声明中说。这样的词汇只适用于那艘宇宙飞船。

"People on Earth might never know about these words, unless theres a reason to tell them. And the further away you get, the less youre going to talk to people back home," McKenzie said.

“ 地球上的人可能永远不会知道这些词，除非有告诉他们的理由。你走得越远，回家跟其他人说的话就越少。”麦肯齐说。

The researchers noted that in addition to new words being used, the language of people traveling on spaceships and living in colonies would experience many other changes.

研究人员指出，除了使用新单词之外，乘坐宇宙飞船进行旅行和居住在殖民地的人们的语言还将经历许多其它变化。

For example, the sounds of different letters would likely change over time, affecting not only individual words, but the whole "grammatical system," the paper states.

例如，不同字母的发音可能会随着时间而改变，这不仅会影响单个单词，而且会影响到整个“语法系统”，论文中写道。

Major changes in word and sentence structure could also create systematic language barriers over time, the researchers said. "Given more time, new grammatical forms can completely replace current ones," McKenzie said.

研究人员表示，随着时间的推移，单词和句子结构的重大变化也会造成系统性的语言障碍。如果有更多的时间，新的语法形式可以完全取代现有的语法形式，”麦肯齐说。

The paper provides examples of how languages developed on our own planet because communities became isolated over time.Examples include "the Polynesian settlement of far-flung Pacific islands,and dialect development in relatively isolated European colonies."

这篇论文举例说明了语言是如何因为随着时间的推移，社群之间变得越来越孤立，在我们自己的星球上发展起来的。例子包括“遥远的太平洋岛屿上的波利尼西亚人的定居，以及在相对孤立的欧洲殖民地上方言的发展”。

McKenzie identified an example of a major language change on Earth during modern times. He described a way of speaking called "uptalk," when speakers end statements with a rising tone. He said this way of speaking is often mistaken for a question tone by those who are not aware of it. "Uptalk has only been observed occurring within the last 40 years, but has spread from small groups of young Americans and Australians to most of the English-speaking world," McKenzie said.

麦肯齐列举了一个近代地球上语言发生重大变化的例子。他描述了一种被称为“升调” 的说话方式，也就是说话者在陈述结束时用上升的音调结束发言。他说，这种说话方式经常被那些不了解的人误认为是问句语调。麦肯齐说：“升调只是在过去40年里才被发现的现象，但是已经从一小群年轻的美国人和澳大利亚人传播到了大多数英语国家。”

The researchers say one possible solution to limit communication problems would be to include language experts on spaceship crews. Another suggestion is to use sign language as a form of communication.

研究人员说，限制出现交流问题的一个可能的解决方案是在飞船上的成员中插入语言专家。另一个建议是使用符号语言作为一种交流形式。

McKenzie added that space travelers might question whether it is even worth trying to learn how to communicate with people on Earth. But he believes there will always be a need, even if it is very limited. "You have to learn a little Earth English to send messages back, or to read the instruction manuals and information that came with the ship," he said.

麦肯齐补充说，太空旅行者可能会质疑，学习如何与地球上的人进行交流是否值得。但他认为总会有需要的，即使是非常有限。他说:“你必须学会一点地球英语来发送信息，或者阅读飞船上的操作说明书和信息。”

I'm Bryan Lynn.

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