Concept
In model theory, a branch of mathematical logic, an elementary class (or axiomatizable class) is a class consisting of all structures satisfying a fixed first-order theory. A class K of structures of a signature σ is called an elementary class if there is a first-order theory T of signature σ, such that K consists of all models of T, i.e., of all σ-structures that satisfy T. If T can be chosen as a theory consisting of a single first-order sentence, then K is called a basic elementary class. More generally, K is a pseudo-elementary class if there is a first-order theory T of a signature that extends σ, such that K consists of all σ-structures that are reducts to σ of models of T. In other words, a class K of σ-structures is pseudo-elementary if and only if there is an elementary class K' such that K consists of precisely the reducts to σ of the structures in K'. For obvious reasons, elementary classes are also called axiomatizable in first-order logic, and basic elementary classes are called finitely axiomatizable in first-order logic. These definitions extend to other logics in the obvious way, but since the first-order case is by far the most important, axiomatizable implicitly refers to this case when no other logic is specified. While the above is nowadays standard terminology in "infinite" model theory, the slightly different earlier definitions are still in use in finite model theory, where an elementary class may be called a Δ-elementary class, and the terms elementary class and first-order axiomatizable class are reserved for basic elementary classes (Ebbinghaus et al. 1994, Ebbinghaus and Flum 2005). Hodges calls elementary classes axiomatizable classes, and he refers to basic elementary classes as definable classes. He also uses the respective synonyms EC class and EC class (Hodges, 1993). There are good reasons for this diverging terminology. The signatures that are considered in general model theory are often infinite, while a single first-order sentence contains only finitely many symbols.