Interstellar (星际的) space, the area in between stars, is about 18 billion (十亿) kilometers from Earth. By now, two spaceships from Earth have reached the mysterious area. Scientists and engineers think humans might be sent to the area some day.
These days, two American language experts are considering one possible problem with such travel. The possibility that changes in human language can develop over time and bring communication problems with people on Earth.
According to the language experts, languages naturally change as communities
grow more isolated (分离的) from each other. The long isolation of a community can lead to enough differences in language to make it impossible for community members back home to understand. "If you're on the spaceship for a long time, new ideas and topics will come up and people will create ways of talking about them," McKenzie, one of the experts, says. "People on Earth might never know about these words, unless there's a reason to tell them. And the further away you get, the less you're going to talk to people back home.
The experts say one way to deal with communication problems is to carry language experts on spaceships. Another suggestion is to use sign language as a form of communication.
Space travelers might question whether it is even worth trying to learn how to communicate with people on Earth. But the experts believe there will always be a need.
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In the future, humans might be sent to interstellar space. Two American language experts think that it's for human language to change over time with such travel. That may communication problems with people on Earth. There will be new ideas and topics on spaceships, people on Earth will find it difficult to understand. They might know about the words of humans back home. The experts think it's a good to deal with the problems by carrying language experts on spaceships. Sign language can also be used as a form of communication. |
