diff --git a/misc/payloads.md b/misc/payloads.md
index f041466..9fb1109 100644
--- a/misc/payloads.md
+++ b/misc/payloads.md
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 Apache Lucene supports payloads as arbitrary byte sequences to store information for terms specific to any token position. Krill uses payloads to store various information in a compact way. This documents describes the payload information for index payloads (payloads stored in the index for different term concepts) and computed payloads (payloads created during the retrieval phase).
 
 ## Payload Type Identifier (PTI)
-Payloads (both indexed and computed) have a leading byte indicating the type of the payload sequence. This is necessary because the origin (i.e. the requested term) of a payload is lost during the retrieval phase. Payload type identifiers range between 0 and 255 and have the length of a byte (\<b\>). In case a term has no payload, no payload type identifier is stored.
+Payloads (both indexed and computed) have a leading byte indicating the type of the payload sequence. This is necessary because the origin (i.e. the requested term) of a payload is lost during the retrieval phase. Payload type identifiers range between 0 and 255 and have the length of a byte (\<b\>). In case a token has no payload, no payload type identifier is stored.
 
 ## Token-unique Identifier (TUI)
-Terms, elements and relations in the index may contain token-unique identifiers (TUI) to distinguish between lucene-terms starting at the same token position. TUIs are used for matching attributes to terms, elements and relations, and to refer to terms and elements from relations. TUIs have the length of a short (\<s\>).
+Tokens, spans and relations in the index may contain token-unique identifiers (TUI) to distinguish between Lucene-tokens starting at the same token position. TUIs are used for matching attributes to tokens, spans and relations, and to refer to tokens and spans from relations. TUIs have the length of a short (\<s\>).
 
 ## Index Payloads
 
@@ -13,38 +13,38 @@
 A token always has a special character payload storing the start and end offset of the token. The special character is a reference symbol for this payload, which is an underscore followed by the corresponding token position. For example, the _1$\<i\>0\<i\>3 is the special character payload for the token in position 1 describing that the token ranges from 0 to 3. This offset information is stored in integer.
 Token payloads are not retrieved via SpanQueries and therefore do not have a PTI.
 
-### Term payloads
-Some terms are indexed with a TUI in their payloads, if they take part in a relation.
-Terms may also have a certainty value attached, expressed as a byte (with a ranging certainty value from probably incorrect to probably correct (0-255)). For example:
+### Token payloads
+Some tokens are indexed with a TUI in their payloads, if they take part in a relation.
+Tokens may also have a certainty value attached, expressed as a byte (with a ranging certainty value from probably incorrect to probably correct (0-255)). For example:
 
     pos:NN$<b>128<s>1
     pos:NN$<b>129<b>34
     pos:NN$<b>130<s>1<b>34
 
-*PTIs* (it’s a term payload, if the first bit is set):
+*PTIs* (it is a token payload, if the first bit is set):
 
-    128: Term with a TUI
-    129: Term with certainty value
-    130: Term with TUI and certainty value
+    128: Token with a TUI
+    129: Token with certainty value
+    130: Token with TUI and certainty value
 
-### Element payloads
-Each element has payloads consisting of start and end character
+### Span payloads
+Each span has payloads consisting of start and end character
 offset information, the PTI, the token position which is the end of
-the element, and the depth (in an abstract tree, with 0 being root).
+the span, and the depth (in an abstract tree, with 0 being root).
 In addition, it may have a TUI and a certainty value.
-The offset information and the end element position are stored in
+The offset information and the end position are stored in
 integer, whereas the TUI is stored in short, and the depth and certainty
-information is stored as byte values. The stored data type for the end
-element, the depth, the TUI and the certainty are written explicitly:
+information is stored as byte values. The stored data type for the end,
+the depth, the TUI and the certainty are written explicitly:
 \<i\> for integer (4 bytes), \<s\> for short (2 bytes), and \<b\> for
 byte (1 byte). For example:
 
     <>:s$<b>64<i>0<i>38<i>7<b>0
 
-means that element \<s\> starts from character offset position 0 and
-ends at character offset position 38. The element ends at token
+means that span \<s\> starts from character offset position 0 and
+ends at character offset position 38. The span ends at token
 position 7 (i.e. it includes the 7th token) which is stored in integer.
-It is a root element or no
+It is a root span or no
 further information on a tree level is given (depth=0).
 
     <>:s$<b>64<i>0<i>38<i>7<b>0<s>1
@@ -59,16 +59,16 @@
 
 means \<s\> has an additional TUI and a certainty value.
 
-Elements may also be empty - meaning they behave as milestones.
+Spans may also be empty - meaning they behave as milestones.
 In that case, character offsets are only given once.
 
     <>:s$<b>65<i>38<b>0
 
 means \<s\> is a milestone at position 38 in root.
 
-*PTIs* (It’s an element payload if the second bit is set):
+*PTIs* (It is a span payload if the second bit is set):
 
-    64  Element (with optional TUI and certainty)
+    64  Span (with optional TUI and certainty)
     65  Milestone (with optional TUI and certainty)
 
 ### Relation payloads
@@ -88,13 +88,13 @@
 right parts, which again can be either a source or a target of the
 relation. 
 
-* If the left part of a relation is an element, the end position
-  of the element has to be stored in payload; if it is a token,
+* If the left part of a relation is a span, the end position
+  of the span has to be stored in payload; if it is a token,
   nothing has to be stored additionally.
 * The same applies for the right part of a relation. 
 
 These positions are always stored in integer. Besides token position, 
-character offsets of relations with element parts 
+character offsets of relations with span parts 
 are also stored in integer.
 
 Left-part TUI reference, right-part TUI reference, and relation TUI can
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
 the right-part TUI reference, or the relation TUI), all TUIs have to be set.
 If the TUIs do not refer to anything, they have to be set to ```0```.
 
-1) Term to term relation has
+1) Token to token relation has
  
 * 1 byte for PTI (32), 
 * 1 integer for the right part token position, 
@@ -121,11 +121,11 @@
 has a token as the right part at (end) position 3, the source TUI reference 5,
 no target TUI reference and the relation TUI 3.
 
-2) Term to element relation has
+2) Token to span relation has
 
 * 1 byte for PTI (33), 
-* 1 integer for the start element offset of the right part, 
-* 1 integer for the end element offset of the right part, 
+* 1 integer for the start span offset of the right part, 
+* 1 integer for the end span offset of the right part, 
 * 1 integer for the start position of the right part, 
 * 1 integer for the end position of the right part, 
 * and 0-3 TUIs as above.
@@ -137,11 +137,11 @@
 means the right part starts at token position 1 and ends at token
 position 3.
 
-3) Element to term relation has 
+3) Span to token relation has 
 
 * 1 byte for PTI (34), 
-* 1 integer for the start element offset of the left part, 
-* 1 integer for the end element offset of the left part, 
+* 1 integer for the start span offset of the left part, 
+* 1 integer for the end span offset of the left part, 
 * 1 integer for end position of the left part, 
 * 1 integer for end position of the right part, and 
 * and 0-3 TUIs as above.
@@ -151,15 +151,15 @@
     >:dependency$<b>34<i>27<i>34<i>2<i>3<s>5<s>4<s>3
 
 means the left part ends at token position 2, and right part is a
-term ending at position 3.
+token ending at position 3.
 
-4) Element to element relation has 
+4) Span to span relation has 
 
 * 1 byte for PTI (35), 
-* 1 integer for the start element offset of the left part, 
-* 1 integer for the end element offset of the left part, 
-* 1 integer for the start element offset of the right part, 
-* 1 integer for the end element offset of the right part, 
+* 1 integer for the start span offset of the left part, 
+* 1 integer for the end span offset of the left part, 
+* 1 integer for the start span offset of the right part, 
+* 1 integer for the end span offset of the right part, 
 * 1 integer for end position of the left part, 
 * 1 integer for the start position of the right part, 
 * 1 integer for end position of the right part, 
@@ -169,34 +169,34 @@
 
     >:dependency$<b>35<i>27<i>34<i>35<i>40<i>2<i>3<i>4<s>5<s>4<s>3
 
-means the left part ends at token position 2, the right part is an
-element starting at position 3 and ending at position 4.
+means the left part ends at token position 2, the right part is a
+span starting at position 3 and ending at position 4.
 
 *PTIs* (it’s a relation payload if the third bit is set):
 
-    32 term to term relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
-    33 term to element relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
-    34 element to term relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
-    35 element to element relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
+    32 token to token relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
+    33 token to span relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
+    34 span to token relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
+    35 span to span relation (with optional relation TUI and certainty)
 
 ### Attribute payloads
 Each attribute has two payloads: 
 
-* the TUI of the term, element or relation to which the attribute
+* the TUI of the token, span or relation to which the attribute
   belongs to (stored in short)
-* for elements: the corresponding element end position (stored in integer)
+* for spans: the corresponding span end position (stored in integer)
 
 For example:
 
     @:class=header$<b>17<i>6<s>1
 
-means the attribute belongs to the element in the
+means the attribute belongs to the span in the
 same token position whose TUI is 1 and end position is 6.
 
 *PTIs* (it’s an attribute payload, if the fourth bit is set):
 
-    16. Attribute for Terms
-    17. Attribute for Elements
+    16. Attribute for Tokens
+    17. Attribute for Spans
     18. Attribute for Relations
 
 ## Computed Payloads