diff --git a/panphon/featuretable.py b/panphon/featuretable.py
index 0800b79..7659ee3 100644
--- a/panphon/featuretable.py
+++ b/panphon/featuretable.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ def segments(self):
         return self._segments
 
     def sort_segments(self):
-        self.segments.sort(key=self.segment_key)
+        self._segments.sort(key=self.segment_key)
 
     @staticmethod
     def segment_key(segment_tuple):
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ def normalize(data: str) -> str:
     def _read_bases(self, fn: str, weights):
         fn = pkg_resources.resource_filename(__name__, fn)
         segments = []
-        with open(fn) as f:
+        with open(fn, encoding="utf8") as f:
             reader = csv.reader(f)
             header = next(reader)
             names = header[1:]
@@ -585,4 +585,3 @@ def vector_list_to_word(self, tensor, xsampa=False,fuzzy_search=False):
             word = self.xsampa.convert(word)
 
         return word
-
diff --git a/panphon/segment.py b/panphon/segment.py
index ab42fc1..85f536d 100644
--- a/panphon/segment.py
+++ b/panphon/segment.py
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from collections.abc import Iterator, Iterable, Mapping
-from typing import TypeVar
+from typing import Iterator, Mapping, TypeVar
 import regex as re
 
 T = TypeVar('T')
@@ -13,7 +12,7 @@ class Segment(Mapping[str, int]):
     
     :param names list[str]: An ordered list of feature names.
     :param feature dict[str, int]: name-feature pairs for specified features.
-    :param ftstr str: A string, each /(+|0|-)\w+/ sequence of which is interpreted as a feature specification.
+    :param ftstr str: A string, each /(+|0|-)\\w+/ sequence of which is interpreted as a feature specification.
     :param weights list[float]: An ordered list of feature weights/saliences.
     """
     def __init__(self, names: list[str], features: dict[str, int]={}, ftstr: str='', weights: "list[float]"=[]):