Presupposed Meaning in Non-Factive Presupposition

The third utterance is found in Scene 68, portraying the conversation between Harvey Milk and Scott Smith. 3 Harvey Milk: If people are ever going to take me seriously, I have to win this one. Scott Smith: Since when did you care if anyone took you seriously? Harvey Milk: Anita wants to put us all back in concentration camps p.41. People never take Harvey Milk seriously. Based on the conversation above, it presupposes that people never take Harvey Milk seriously, indicated by the if-clause that implies people in San Francisco are not taking him seriously, causing him to look like an insignificant agent of change without an adequate number of votes or supporters. The fourth utterance is found in Scene 83, portraying Harvey Milk‘s conversation with Anne Kronenberg. 4 Harvey Milk: Hey, I‘ll let him christen me, if he‘ll vote for my Gay Rights Ordianance. We need allies. We need everyone. p.53. He Dan White will not vote for Harve y Milk‘s Gay Rights Ordinance. Based on Harvey Milk‘s utterance above, it depicts that Dan White will not vote for Harvey Milk ‘s Gay Rights Ordinance because Harvey Milk utters that premise in an if-clause which shows that it is contrary to the fact. The pronoun he refers to Dan White because in Scene 83, Anne Kronenberg and Harvey Milk are talking about Dan White. The fifth utterance is found in Scene 92, portraying Harvey Milk‘s conversation with Anne Kronenberg, and Jim Rivaldo. 5 Harvey Milk: If we‘re gonna convince the 90 to give a shit about us 10 . . . We have to let ‗em know who we are p.64. Harvey Milk and his team have not convinced the majority 90 of San Francisco society to give a shit about the gay minority 10. Based on Harvey Mil k‘s utterance above, the if-clause presupposes an information that is contrary to the fact which is Harvey Milk and his team have not convinced the majority 90 of San Francisco society to give a shit about the gay minority 10. The depiction of the majority and the minority can be seen through the percentage of comparison uttered by Harvey Milk. The 90 represents the majority of conservative San Francisco society during the 1970s, while 10 represents the minority which is the gay community led by Harvey Milk in San Francisco during the 1970s.

6. Presupposed Meaning in Structural Presupposition

Structural presupposition is a type of presupposition in which a certain structure in a sentence takes an essential role in assuming that the information in the sentence is true. Wh-question is the common example of a certain structure that presupposes an information that is already deemed as true in a sentence. The chart above indicates that 12.5 of 39 utterances can be classified in structural presupposition. There are five utterances which comprise structural presupposition. The summary of the presupposed meaning based on structural presupposition can be seen in the table below. PageScene Characters Utterances 2640 Harvey Milk Rick Stokes Conversation PageScene Characters Utterances 84116 Art Agnos Harvey Milk Conversation 58-5988 Anne Kronenberg Harvey Milk Conversation 87119 Harvey Milk John Briggs Conversation 99140 Harvey Milk Mayor Moscone Conversation Table 6. Utterances with Structural Presupposition In the table above, it illustrates that all structural presupposition can be found in a conversation between Harvey Milk and other characters in the film script. The first utterance is found in Scene 40, portraying Harvey Milk‘s conversation with Rick Stokes. 1 Rick Stokes: You can‘t demand acceptance overnight. Harvey Milk: Why not? How can we ask them to respect us if we don‘t show ourselves some self respect, David? p.26 Harvey Milk and his gay community demand a respect. Based on the conversation above, it presupposes that Harvey Milk and his gay community demand a respect, indicated by the question how can we ask them to respect us. The question implies the intention of Harvey Milk and his gay community to ask for respect from the people in San Francisco, which is doubted by Rick Stokes that believes it cannot be demanded overnight, which implies that getting an acceptance and acknowledgement to Harvey Milk‘s gay community will require a long journey to go to. The second utterance is found in Scene 116, portraying Harvey Milk‘s conversation with Art Agnos. 2 Art Agnos: Mr. Milk, I‘ve worked for years as a social worker in this city. I know Sacramento. I know how to get done what we all need done there.