REPRESENTATIVE ACTS IN DALIA MOGAHED’S SPEECH “WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A MUSLIM IN AMERICA”

This present study aims to investigate various kinds of representative acts performed in Dalia Mogahed's speech entitled "What It's like to be a Muslim in America?" and to analyze the Islamic values that may be contained in the speech. As a qualitative research, the data of the current study were collected by searching and watching speech videos on Youtube and downloading the videos and the speech transcripts. In investigating the representative acts of Dalia Mogahed, this study applied Searle's (1976) theory of representative speech acts in analyzing the data in the forms of utterances produced by Dalia that were collected from Dalia's speeches. The data that have been obtained were then classified, analyzed, interpreted, and described. The results show that Dalia's 111 utterances were identified as representative acts, consisting of 54 utterances of stating, 32 utterances of describing, 10 utterances of asserting, 9 utterances of informing, 3 utterances of reporting and 3 utterances of predicting. The representative acts in Dalia's speech are reported to contain some Islamic messages.


INTRODUCTION
In the process of communication, there has been an exchange of information between people. Through speaking, they convey the information. An utterance that is expressed sometimes contains a particular meaning and purpose. Thus, the information might be conveyed implicitly. It enables an action performed by the speaker through their speech (Arsani, Juniartha, & Ariyaningsih, 2021;Izar, Nasution, & Ratnasari, 2020;Yule, 1996).
Generally, it is referred to as a speech act that is part of the pragmatics field that deals with the speaker's intention. Because, when conveying an utterance, a person not only consciously arranges the words in his sentence, but there are also the actions that underlie the utterance. Yule (1996) defined speech acts as an action performed through an utterance or expression.
It also refers to how the speakers produced utterances and simultaneously performed an action (Fadhilah, Hidayat, & Alek, 2021;Izar, Nasution, & Ratnasari, 2020). In an interaction, the speakers must have a purpose or perform certain actions behind the speech they produce.
Hence, when people say something, the addressee or listener needs to recognize what kind of action is performed through the utterance. Yule (1996) classifies three types of actions contained in speech acts, which are locutionary acts, illocutionary acts, and perlocutionary acts.
Someone who conveys a certain meaning through his expression can be recognized that he performed illocutionary acts. Austin in Birner (2013) argued that an illocutionary act is an action performed in saying something. Meanwhile, Searle (1968) defined illocutionary acts as "acts which can be performed in the utterance of a sentence and are as functions of the meaning of the sentence." Hence, this illocutionary act is done to perform an action that actually wants to do by saying it. Searle (1976) classified various kinds of illocutionary speech acts into five basic categories: Representative (or Assertive), Directive, Commisive, Expressive, and Declaration. These types are classified according to their function and can be performed by a person through speaking. Searle (1976) stated that representative acts bind the speaker to the truth of the matter expressed. In line with Searle, Leech in Zakiah (2018) also argued that expressions in this category are bound by the truth of their contents, and the speakers are responsible for the expression they utter as a fact. Thus, the explanation or information conveyed by the speakers is what they believe and is considered a fact. More specifically, representative acts are used to convey what the speaker believes.
Several researchers have focused their studies on speech acts. Yule (1996) explains speech acts include three types of actions, namely locutionary acts, illocutionary acts, and perlocutionary acts. These types of actions can occur in everyday speech. Furthermore, the speakers might expect that through their utterances, listeners can recognize their communicative intention (Yule, 1996). Thus, it may be essential to recognize and understand the intended action of the speaker.
Since speech acts can appear in various expressions, they can also appear in a speech (Arsani, Juniartha, & Ariyaningsih, 2021). Through the speech, someone aims to convey a message in front of the public, a particular community, or a general audience. Speech might have various definitions. However, it still refers to the ability to convey an idea or information. As stated by Sapir (2004), speech is a normal type of communication that aims to convey ideas.
A number of studies conducted on speech acts have focused on illocutionary acts. More specifically, they examined the kinds of representative or assertive speech acts with various data sources. Izar, Nasution, and Ratnasari (2020), Suryanti (2020), and Suryanti and Irma (2019) conducted a study to investigate various kinds of assertive or representative acts in a talk show. The study conducted by Suryanti (2020) examined the kinds of representative acts and also the factors that influence the use of representative acts. Several other studies with different data focused not only on the kinds of representative speech but also on their functions in conveying religious values (Sugianto, Zulfa W, & Purwanto, 2020) and revealed whether the representative acts are representative uttered directly or indirectly (Zakiah, 2018).
Other researchers also conducted a study with a different focus. Mardawati, Padmadewi, and Myartawan (2017) studied various kinds of assertive speech acts and speech styles in a community, namely the eleventh-grade students at SMA Negeri 3 Singaraja. Furthermore, apart from investigating the kinds of assertive speech acts used by the teacher in EFL classes, Milal and Kusumajanti (2020) also revealed how the teacher performed the assertive acts.
Meanwhile, Orin and Issy (2016) also investigated the kinds of representative acts used by debaters in competition, explained the opponent's response to representative acts, and explained the contribution of representative acts in an argument.
The previous studies on speech acts (Annahlia, Edward, & Fauzi, 2020;Arsani, Juniartha, & Ariyaningsih, 2021;Ashfira & Hardjanto, 2021;Veriza, Sukyadi, & Triarisanti, 2021) have also been conducted by focusing on the speech delivered by a speaker. Ashfira and Hardjanto (2021) only investigated the kinds of assertive acts in the three selected speeches of Donald Trump's presidential speech. Furthermore, Arsani, Juniartha, and Ariyaningsih (2021) studied representative acts on one of Queen Elizabeth II's speeches about coronavirus and the meaning behind the utterances in her speech. The result showed that the speaker tried to convince the public to work together to prevent the disease and the spread of the virus without any pressure. Volume 13, Number 1, April 2022, [83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97] Another study also did not simply examine how assertive speech acts appear. It investigated which kinds of assertive speech acts were most dominant and how they represented the diplomacy implemented by South Korea in the speech given by President Moon Jae-In (Veriza, Sukyadi, & Triarisanti, 2021). Unlike Ashfira and Hardjanto (2021), Arsani, Juniartha, and Ariyaningsih (2021), and Veriza, Sukyadi, and Triarisanti (2021), that focused their research on representative acts, Annahlia, Edward, and Fauzi (2020) investigated the dominant type of illocutionary speech act in a speech. The function of speech act from the Islamic perspective was also examined in this study.
Hence, the abovementioned previous studies have focused on representative acts and examined the kinds of representative acts in a general way. Only a few studies discussed illocutionary acts or representative acts that also tried to find their relationship with Islamic values contained in the speech. To the best of the researchers' knowledge, only a study on illocutionary acts examined its types, and the functions of speech acts from an Islamic perspective. Therefore, this study attempts to focus on investigating the representative acts and also looking for Islamic messages that may occur in the use of representative acts in Dalia Mogahed's speeches. This present research tries to answer the following research questions: "What are the types of representative acts found in Dalia Mogahed's Speech 'What it's like to be a Muslim in America'?" and "What are the Islamic messages found in the representative acts performed by Dalia in her speech?" In analyzing the data, the researchers also paid attention to the context where and when the speech occurred. As a pragmatics analysis, this study looks at the relationship between utterance and contextual meaning, or what the speaker means that can be different (Annahlia, Edward, & Fauzi, 2020;Birner, 2013;Yule, 2010). When the same utterance is produced with different situations, environments, and people, it can also produce different meanings.
Pragmatics can encourage language learners and users to be competent in communicating (Akmal, Fitriah, & Zafirah, 2020) since it is used to examine a contextual meaning in an utterance. Therefore, contextual meaning becomes an important aspect of communication examined in this study. Muslims that focus on how humans should live their lives, and these principles are interrelated (Jempa, 2018). These values, consisting of aqidah values, worship values, and moral values (Muhtadi, 2006), are believed to be true and applied in all aspects of human life.

METHOD
To examine various kinds of representative acts, the researchers decided to analyze the speech delivered by Dalia Mogahed at TED Talks in March 2016 as a data source. The researchers used the speech transcript taken from the TED Talks website. The data analyzed are Dalia's utterances in her speech. Dalia's speech was chosen because she expressed her thoughts and also shared her experiences as a Muslim in America through the speech. Using a qualitative approach, the researchers analyzed, described, and interpreted the utterances considered representative acts performed in the speech.
In this present study, the researchers used a qualitative method to investigate the representative acts in a speech. This method was commonly used in other studies of pragmatic.
According to Wray and Bloomer (2006), a qualitative approach focuses on describing, analyzing, and exploring a type of strategy used by a speaker. Since this pragmatic study examines the meaning or specific intentions of a speaker in a particular context, this method is appropriate for this research. In addition, Bogdan and Biklen in Sugiyono (2015) affirm that one of the characteristics of qualitative research is descriptive, in which the data used are in the form of words or pictures. Therefore, this qualitative method is applied to analyze the utterances of Dalia Mogahed.
In qualitative research, the role of the researcher is to collect, identify and analyze data.
The researchers collected data from the transcript of Dalia's speech video. Firstly, the researchers searched for and watched the video of the speech from a Youtube link: https://www.ted.com/talks/dalia_mogahed_what_it_s_like_to_be_muslim_in_america?langua ge=en. Then, the researchers looked for the speech transcript and downloaded it from the TED websites. After that, the researchers checked whether the speech in the video and the transcript were matched and synchronized by watching the video. Then, the researchers identified the representative acts in the speech through the transcript and marked the utterances.
After collecting the data, the researchers subsequently identified the utterances considered to contain representative acts. After that, the researchers classified the utterances according to the kinds of representative acts in the table. Then, the researchers analyzed the Islamic Volume 13, Number 1, April 2022, 83-97 messages and values that may occur in the use of representative acts in the speech. The last, the researchers conclude the results of the data analyzed.

Kinds of Representative Acts
Dalia Mogahed's speech consists of 133 utterances or expressions produced by Dalia. The researchers found 111 representative acts performed by Dalia in her speech. It shows that representative acts are the most frequently performed speech acts in Dalia's speech. This study indicates several kinds of representative acts identified: stating, describing, asserting, informing, predicting, reporting, and guessing. Figure 1 shows the representative acts performed in Dalia Mogahed's speech.

Figure 1: Kinds of Representative Acts Performed in Dalia Mogahed's Speech
Based on the figure above, it can be seen that 54 out of 111 representative acts are identified as stating that is one of the most frequently used kinds of representative acts in the speech. Then, followed by describing with 32 utterances, asserting with 10 utterances, informing with 8 utterances, reporting with 4 utterances, and the last one is predicting with 3 utterances.

Stating
Stating is an expression that clarifies, shows, or says something based on what the speaker understands and believes in a clear way. Hence, the act of stating was performed to reveal something to be known by the listener or addressee. It was the most appearing representative act found in the speech. Based on the excerpt above, the two bold utterances are recognized as an act of stating, even though it does not use the verb "state." It can be seen from the context where Dalia clarifies the perceptions people give of her as a Muslim. Previously, Dalia asked how people viewed her by mentioning some negative perceptions. Dalia then said that she does not blame it and tends to understand the occurrence of negative perceptions. Since the fact is the media indeed often gives the same perception to Muslims. Therefore, people are influenced to have the same perception. Dalia also provided other evidence of negative perceptions of Muslims.

Describing
Describing is an expression that functions to describe or explain something, situation, or process to the hearer. Generally, it is used to describe a thing or even a condition in detail.
Hence, the hearer can understand what the speaker means through the description given. Based on the excerpt above, the two utterances in bold are recognized as the act of describing. It can be seen from the context where Dalia is trying to retell her memories of the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks in America. It was a terrorist attack carried out by a militant Islamic terrorist group. Dalia described how terrible the situation was in sufficient detail. For instance, many "Breaking News" appeared on the television screen, the smoke around the building, people jumping out of the building, and airplanes crashing into the building. Therefore, Dalia implied that, as a Muslim, she was also shocked and angry at that time. Thus, she could remember the details of the situation at that time.

Asserting
Asserting is an expression that functions to emphasize, convince, and declare what the speaker believes positively. In general, the speakers use this act to convey their opinion that is considered a fact in a firm manner. Thus, the speaker might indirectly encourage the listener to consider the statement the truth. Volume 13, Number 1, April 2022, 83-97 Data 3

[06:38] "The choices don't make sense, because it's the wrong question. Muslims, like all other Americans, aren't a tumor in the body of America, we're a vital organ."
Based on the excerpt above, these expressions can be identified as the act of asserting. The context is that Dalia seems to be against wrong assumptions about Islam. Some people have made several attempts to get rid of Muslims by closing mosques and banning Muslims just because they are considered tumors. If it is true, then whether Muslims are benign or malignant tumors. Subsequently, Dalia disputed that the choices were unreasonable. Through her statement, Dalia implicitly emphasized that the question was wrong since Muslims are the same as other Americans. They have equal rights, and Muslims are not a disease but a significant part of America. Thus, the speaker wanted to emphasize through his statement that negative perceptions about Muslims in people's minds could be reduced.

Informing
Informing is an expression that gives information or knowledge to the hearer or the addressee. The statement conveys information, and the hearer does not know the information.
Therefore, this expression is used to let the hearer knows the information provided by the speaker.

Data 4 [01:23] "When I was 17, I decided to come out. No, not as a gay person like some of my friends, but as a Muslim, and decided to start wearing the hijab, my head covering.
My feminist friends were aghast: 'Why are you oppressing yourself?' The funny thing was, it was actually at that time a feminist declaration of independence from the pressure I felt as a 17-year-old, to conform to a perfect and unattainable standard of beauty. ..." Based on the excerpt above, the two bold utterances can be identified as the act of informing since it carries information. It can be seen from the context in which Dalia tells about herself and how she embraced her religion. She gives information at what age she decided to change her beliefs. Moreover, when some of her friends decided to be gay, Dalia chose to be a Muslim and started wearing a hijab. Even though her friends thought she was suppressing herself, it was freedom for her where she didn't have to follow the existing beauty standards.
The speaker might think that some audiences do not know her, and then she provides information about herself. Thus, the audience would get to know her better before sharing her thoughts. Volume 13, Number 1, April 2022, 83-97

Predicting
Predicting is an expression that functions to suppose something that will happen or a condition in the future. It can be in the form of assumptions or the results from knowledge, experience, or observations. Hence, this expression is used by speakers to show prediction.
Data 5 [07:03] "Now, is closing down mosques going to make America safer? It might free up some parking spots, but it will not end terrorism. Going to a mosque regularly is actually linked to having more tolerant views of people of other faiths and greater civic engagement. And as one police chief in the Washington, DC area recently told me, people don't actually get radicalized at mosques. They get radicalized in their basement or bedroom, in front of a computer. ..." Based on the excerpt above, the bold utterance can be identified as the act of predicting.
The context is still related to the previous issue of how Dalia responded to the attempts to get rid of Muslims, one of them was by closing down the mosque. When mosques were closed, rather than ending terrorism, it might turn out to free up parking spaces. Dalia then stated several reasons the effort might not make sense since mosques are places of worship that help improve tolerance and not radicalization. Therefore, the speaker implicitly predicts that these efforts might not succeed in preventing the occurrence of continuing acts of terrorism.

Reporting
Reporting is an expression that informs or tells about a thing, information or situation to the hearer or the audience. This expression is commonly used to report something that is considered a fact that has been investigated and observed.

Data 6
[00:27] "If some of your perceptions were negative, I don't really blame you. That's just how the media has been portraying people who look like me.

One study found that 80 percent of news coverage about Islam and Muslims is negative. And studies show that Americans say that most don't know a Muslim. I guess people don't talk to their Uber drivers."
Based on the excerpt above, the two bold utterances can be identified as the act of reporting. In this section, Dalia still discusses the negative perception of Muslims. Previously, Dalia had understood that. Moreover, she reports a study that conducted research on the news that covered Muslims or Islam, and most of the news portrayed Muslims or Islam in a negative way. In addition, other research shows that some Americans do not know Muslims. The speaker considered this information as fact since it has been investigated. Therefore, Dalia would like to inform the audience that negative perceptions of Muslims have become commonplace, and even there are still many Americans who do not know Muslims.
The excerpt above contains representative acts, namely the act of stating and asserting.
Through these utterances, Dalia stated that she is practicing to improve her self-qualities as a Muslim in a spiritual way. It can be done by obeying all the commands and staying away from all of the prohibitions of God. In Islam, spiritual values are inner beliefs that help every Muslim to find a closer relationship with Allah that comes from the values in the Qur'an and hadith (Jumala & Abubakar, 2019).
Moreover, Dalia seems to be attempting to get closer to Allah SWT, and it will create a belief in her heart about her relationship with God. Instead of just accepting the religion she was born with, Dalia emphasizes that belief is a choice. Her utterances may still be related to the values of aqidah, which deals with one's belief in the existence of God. The value of aqidah itself is reflected in the pillars of faith, that is, to believe in the existence of Allah SWT and other core beliefs. Therefore, what Dalia uttered also contains the implementation of aqidah values.

"...I didn't just passively accept the faith of my parents. I wrestled with the Quran. I read and reflected and questioned and doubted and, ultimately, believed. My relationship with God --it was not love at first sight. It was a trust and a slow surrender that deepened with every reading of the Quran. Its rhythmic beauty sometimes moves me to tears. I see myself in it. I feel that God knows me. Have you ever felt like someone sees you, completely understands you and yet loves you anyway? That's how it feels."
The excerpt above contains representative acts, namely the act of stating and asserting.
Dalia asserted that she does not take for granted the belief of her parents. Dalia states that she wrestles with the contents of the Holy Qur'an as one of the life guidance for Muslims. She does not only read the Qur'an but also questions, doubts, and even contemplates it. Thus, she finally believes in the Qur'an. It shows in Dalia's utterance that there is an implementation of one of the pillars of faith as the reflection of the aqidah value, namely believing the books of Allah SWT, including the Holy Qur'an. Volume 13, Number 1, April 2022, 83-97 Furthermore, Dalia emphasizes that reading the Quran will bring her relationship closer to God and deepen her belief in God since the beauty of reading the Quran makes her touched. It is also proven that Dalia believes in the existence of God because she feels God understands her and knows her. Therefore, the representative act performed by Dalia contains aqidah values since she believes not only in the existence of God but also in the Qur'an as one of the books of Allah SWT.

Data 9 "Going to a mosque regularly is actually linked to having more tolerant views of people of other faiths and greater civic engagement. And as one police chief in the Washington, DC area recently told me, people don't actually get radicalized at mosques. ...So if we want to prevent radicalization, we have to keep people going to the mosque."
"...What this imam did was to connect her back to God and to her community. He didn't shame her for her rage --instead, he gave her constructive ways to make real change in the world.

What she learned at that mosque prevented her from going to join ISIS."
The two excerpts above contain representative acts. The first excerpt shows the act of stating and asserting. The context is that Dalia thinks closing mosques may not be effective in making America safer. Dalia stated that visiting mosques could provide a tolerant view of the people of different faiths. The mosque is not a place of radicalization but a place of worship where a Muslim can meet fellow believers, gather with pious people, and share insights; thus, it can prevent radicalization.
While the second excerpt contains the act of stating and informing, in this context, there is a girl who conveyed her intentions to an Imam that she was thinking of joining ISIS. Then, however, this prominent imam reconnected her with God and her community. Furthermore, Dalia asserted that what people learn in the mosque can prevent them from joining ISIS. It shows that Dalia indirectly encourages people to go to the mosque to get closer to God, strengthen their faith, and get advice from the Imams. People may not only fulfill the worship but also prevent them from getting bad influence from outside or even radicalization. Therefore, the representative acts produced by Dalia contain aqidah values and other Islamic messages since they deal with human belief in God and the implementation in real life.
Based on the analysis above, there are several kinds of representative acts that were performed by Dalia Mogahed when giving a speech to the audience. This research reveals that the representative act that dominates the speech delivered by Dalia is the act of stating. In addition, the act of describing performed by Dalia is used to illustrate her life and her experiences, describe other people and portray something. The act of asserting is also done to emphasize opinions or thoughts. Dalia then performs the act of informing to provide Volume 13, Number 1, April 2022, 83-97 information to the audience and the act of predicting to foresee what might happen in the future.
In addition, reporting was also performed by Dalia to convey information from her research.
Dalia performs the act of stating to utter something that she believes and understands, say about herself, and express her thoughts. It is in accordance with the theory of representative acts, which binds the speaker to the truth of what is conveyed (Searle, 1976). The use of stating that dominates Dalia's speech is in line with the results of the research conducted by Ashfira and Hardjanto (2021) in three speeches of Donald Trump. Trump conveyed issues related to changing policy through his speech. Trump performed the act of stating to support his declaration and make the audience believe in his policies. However, another study examining assertive speech acts in three of Trump's speeches (Perdana, 2017) reported the act of informing as the most dominant kind of assertive act. It may be caused by the theory being used and speech being analyzed, namely Kreidler's theory and Trump's speech on a different subject.
Different results are also shown by a study conducted by Veriza, Sukyadi, and Triarisanti (2021) that the act of agreeing was the most widely performed in President Moon Jae-in's speech. The use of agreeing by President Moon Jae-In reflects the diplomatic attitude and situation of the two Koreas. The difference may be caused by the theory used in this study that combines Jang (in the Korean language) and Searle's theory about assertive speech acts.
Furthermore, the content of the speech or the purpose that the speakers want to communicate could affect the speech acts performed by them. As a result, Dalia's representative acts are dominated by the act of stating since she testifies about facts and thoughts.
On the other hand, using representative acts in Dalia's speech also contained Islamic values and messages. Dalia's expression contains the implementation of aqidah into real-life activities.
For example, by not only accepting religion as an identity but also as a choice that must be made through careful learning and thoughts. Dalia also tries to become a better Muslim spiritually and encourages people to go to the mosque. Besides, she reads the Quran and contemplates its contents to build a strong belief in God. It can be seen that Dalia applies the pillars of faith in her life by believing in Allah SWT and believing in Allah's Holy Books. In Through her speech, she tried to convince her audience about the truth of Islam, which she believes in, and how Islam forbids all kinds of terrorist attacks. She encouraged people to see Muslims with a better, fair perspective by stating what she believes is true.
Overall, in this study, two findings were identified. There are various kinds of representative acts identified in Dalia's speech, and the act of stating is the most widely performed. Another one is that the Islamic values contained in the speech are part of the values of aqidah and Islamic messages. As an American Muslim, Dalia's utterances imply that although a number of people and media give negative views of Islam, it is certainly full of prejudices. She tries to tell her audience her life experience and how she was also indignant over the acts of terrorism. As a researcher, Dalia tries to express her opinions and thoughts wisely. Therefore, the representative acts carried out are not merely aimed at conveying the speaker's intention but also reflecting on what the speaker might be convinced and believe to respond to the socio-political environment full of Islamophobia.

CONCLUSION
Based on the results of the analysis of the representative acts in Dalia's speech using Searle's theory, there are 111 out of 133 of Dalia's utterances in her speech entitled "What it's like to be a Muslim in America" that are identified as representative acts. Out of the six kinds of representative acts found in Dalia's speech, the most frequently performed is the act of stating. In addition, Dalia's speech also contains Islamic values and messages, namely the application of aqidah values in her life. It can be concluded that Dalia, as a speaker, performs a representative act to convey her opinion or thoughts that may reflect what she believes and encourage the audience to take her statement as true.
Future researchers are suggested to research similar topics related to Islamic issues in the Western context. Since the current researchers only focus on representative acts, further