Fenqi Wang

I am an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Research Fellow in Neurology AI at Mayo Clinic, where I develop AI pipelines to analyze speech and language as biomarkers of neurological disease. Working with Dr. Hugo Botha and Dr. Rene Utianski, I investigate how changes in speech and language reflect motor and cognitive decline in neurodegenerative disorders.

My research sits at the intersection of AI, neurology, speech-language pathology, and linguistics. I use machine learning and deep learning to study motor speech disorders, develop speech-based biomarkers, and advance scalable tools for disease detection and monitoring.

Beyond clinical applications, I examine how emotions are expressed and perceived in speech across languages and how linguistic experience shapes speech production, perception, and cognition.

I received my PhD in Linguistics from the University of Florida under the mentorship of Dr. Ratree Wayland. My work has appeared in leading journals and conferences in neurology, speech-language pathology, linguistics, and speech science.

News

05/18/2026	A paper on depression in Mandarin speech will be published in JSLHR.
05/07/2026	A paper on /l/ and /n/ variation in Mandarin will be published in Language and Speech.
03/09/2026	A paper on deep-learning speech features of PPAOS published in CLP.
10/31/2025	A paper on cross-linguistic emotion production will be published in Phonetica.
10/07/2025	New Investigators Research Grant was awarded by ASHFoundation.

Selected Publications

LANSP

An investigation of the phonetic variation of the word-initial /l/ and /n/ across regional varieties of Mandarin

Fenqi Wang, Delin Deng, Ratree Wayland, H. Henny Yeung, and Yue Wang

Language and Speech, 2026

Bib

@article{wang2026phonetic,
  title = {An investigation of the phonetic variation of the word-initial /l/ and /n/ across regional varieties of Mandarin},
  author = {Wang, Fenqi and Deng, Delin and Wayland, Ratree and Yeung, H. Henny and Wang, Yue},
  journal = {Language and Speech},
  year = {2026},
  section = {Journal Articles},
  bibtex_show = {true}
}

CLP

Deep learning-derived measures of sound-level accuracy in primary progressive apraxia of speech: A feasibility pipeline with descriptive evidence from two cases

Fenqi Wang, John R. Duffy, A. D. Bachman, L. R. Barnard, H. Botha, and R. L. Utianski

Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 2026

Bib HTML

@article{wang2026soundlevelaccuracy,
  title = {Deep learning-derived measures of sound-level accuracy in primary progressive apraxia of speech: A feasibility pipeline with descriptive evidence from two cases},
  author = {Wang, Fenqi and Duffy, John R. and Bachman, A. D. and Barnard, L. R. and Botha, H. and Utianski, R. L.},
  journal = {Clinical Linguistics \& Phonetics},
  pages = {1--19},
  year = {2026},
  section = {Journal Articles},
  doi = {10.1080/02699206.2026.2639397},
  bibtex_show = {true}
}

PHON

Modeling the acoustic profiles of vocal emotions in American English and Mandarin Chinese

Fenqi Wang

Phonetica, 2025

Bib HTML

@article{wang2025modelingvocalemotions,
  title = {Modeling the acoustic profiles of vocal emotions in American English and Mandarin Chinese},
  author = {Wang, Fenqi},
  journal = {Phonetica},
  volume = {82},
  number = {6},
  pages = {445--487},
  year = {2025},
  section = {Journal Articles},
  doi = {10.1515/phon-2025-0003},
  bibtex_show = {true}
}