[FOM] looking for help with terminology

[Jesse Alama]

Neil Tennant <neilt at mercutio.cohums.ohio-state.edu> writes:

> I wonder whether any fom-er can tell me if there is any reasonably
> well-established terminology for the following.
>
> I want to isolate formulae of the form
>
> 	P(x_1,...,x_n)
>
> where P is a primitive n-place predicate, and of the form
>
> 	y = f(x_1,...,x_n)
>
> where f is a primitive n-place function sign, and where in both cases the
> x_i are individual variables.
>
> Formulae of the form P(f(x)) won't qualify; nor will formulae of the form
> f(y)=g(x) or of the form y=f(g(x))---to choose just three examples of
> foils. Yet of course these three formulae count as *atomic*, on the
> standard definition of atomic formulae. 
>
> So I'm looking for a term to designate something narrower than the class
> of atomic formulae. 
>
> Any suggestions?

Hodges calls these "unnested atomic formulas" (see _A Shorter Model
Theory_, p. 51).

Jesse

-- 
Jesse Alama (alama at stanford.edu)