An Exploration Of The Problem-solution Pattern In Chinese Micro-fictions Through Interrogation

The production and interpretation of a discourse can be considered as a “virtual”dialogue between the writer and the reader (Hoey,2001). The interaction makes discoursesconstructed in certain patterns. It is widely believed that the Problem-Solution pattern is theminimum discourse pattern (Hoey,1983) and interrogation is an effective method to explorethe existence of the discourse pattern. However, no research has been made in the literatureto explore the relation between the Problem-Solution pattern and textual interaction in acertain genre.Chinese micro-fiction is a new-born genre on the Internet with a main feature ofinteraction. Twenty micro-fictions of the top20finalists in the second micro-fictioncompetition of Sina Weibo in2011are chosen as the materials for analysis in this thesis.Based on the findings, it is safe to conclude that the Problem-Solution pattern isapplicable to Chinese micro-fictions. What is more, the Problem-Solution patterns aremainly revealed by four structures: parallel structure, hierarchical structure, linear structureand comprehensive structure. However in Chinese micro-fictions only two types areinteractive in structure; they are parallel structure and linear structure. Obviously, theProblem-Solution structures are not completely correspondent with the interactive structures.Finally, the research results suggest that the realization of textual interaction in Chinesemicro-fiction is closely related to the Problem-Solution pattern.The research has implications on the function of the Problem-Solution pattern in therealization of textual interaction in Chinese micro-fiction. In addition, the research resultsmay also enlarge the scope of the application of the Problem-Solution pattern, and benefit tothe analysis on the similarity between Chinese and English discourses, and the universalfeatures of languages.