Add to ORKGIn this study I investigate how relative clauses in MSA effect the temporal properties of the verb form known as Perfect. Comrie (1976), and later Fassi Fehri (2004), describe the Perfect as having the properties of anteriority and perfectivity, i.e. it reports a finished situation temporally anterior either to the time of speech or to some other point in time. My hypotheses is that the Perfect in a relative clause always refers to a situation anterior to the situation described in the main clause, rather than the time of speach. In other words, the Perfect in a relative clause always constitutes a step back in time. In a conventional narrative this means that the Perfect in relative clauses does not push time forward, quite the opposite of...