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Many scientists believe that alien civilisations exist. So let's imagine that we suddenly stand face-to-face with members of an alien species. What would we do first?
很多科学家相信外星文明确实存在。那么来想象一下，当我们突然面对某一外星物种时，首先要做的是什么？
Surely communicating that we come in peace would be a priority. But would we ever be able to understand each other?
当然，首先要做的是与其和平交流。但是我们能够听懂他们说的话吗？
The one thing we can be confident about exchanging with aliens is scientific information. If the laws of the universe are the same everywhere, then different descriptions of these laws should, in principle, be equivalent.
我们可以确定的一件事情即是：与外星人交流的是科学信息。如果宇宙规律在每一个地方都是一样的，那么对这些规律的不同描述在原则上应该是相同的。
Matters are more complicated when it comes to language, which is the single most important factor in human cooperation.
当提及语言时，事情会变得更为错综复杂，它是人类合作的一个最重要因素。
Can we expect to learn such an alien language? Existing perspectives in the psychology of language give two very different answers.
我们能够学习外星人的语言吗？语言心理学现有的观点给出了两个截然不同的答案。
The generativist approach, which holds that the structure of language is hardwired into the brain, suggests this wouldn't be possible. It argues that humans come with an inbuilt universal grammar that has a specific number of settings – each corresponding to the acceptable order in which words and parts of words can be arranged in a given language system.
生成语法学家的方法认为，语言结构是固定在大脑里的，这表明人类无法掌握外星人语言。它认为人类天生就有一个内置的通用语法，其具有许多设定--每一个对应的是可接受的语序，单词和单词的组成部分可在某一特定语言体系当中连接起来。
Though the rules of human languages can and do vary, proponents of the generativist model argue they can only do so within strict parameters. For generativists, it is extremely unlikely that an alien species would happen to have the same parameters as human beings.
虽然人类语言的规律能够也确实可以改变，但是生成语法学家模型的支持者坚持认为，他们只能够在严格的参数内进行。对于生成语法学家来说，外星人碰巧与人类有着相同的参数是非常不可能的事情。
The cognitive view, on the other hand, sees semantics (structures of meaning) as being more important than syntax (structures of grammar). For this reason, proponents of the cognitive view argue that grammar alone is not enough to understand language.
另一方面，认知观认为语义学（意义结构）比句法学（语法结构）更为重要。因此，认知观的支持者认为单有语法不足以理解语言的。
If an alien species manipulates objects, interacts with its peers and combines concepts, the cognitive approach therefore predicts there might be enough mental architecture in common to make its language accessible to humans. Though these results are far from conclusive (for instance, they can't explain why humans alone seem to have language), the evidence leans towards the cognitive account.
如果外星人能够操作事物，与伙伴交流并且整合观点；那么，认知方法可预测外星人有足够的共同心理结构来和人类进行交流。虽然这些结果还远没定论（比如，他们无法解释为何只有人类才有语言），但是有证据支持认知解释。
So, it might be reasonable to assume that humans could learn alien languages.
因此，假定人类能够学习外星人的语言是合理的。
