intonation and,,, stress shift?

[dihen]

Why do many native speakers often shift the stress to another syllable when reading slowly or speaking slowly?
`
example:
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"lesSON ONE" instead of "LESson ONE"
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the tone sequence is like this:
`
"lesson one"
[mid tone - high tone - falling tone] instead of [high tone - high tone - falling tone]

[Casiopea]

Really? Interesting. I'd like to hear more. Where did you find your data?

[dihen]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

Really? Interesting. I'd like to hear more. Where did you find your data?

Maybe they change the tone, not stress? It sounds to me like that they're shifting the stress, because I pronounce stressed and unstressed syllables with a certain tone.
`
example:
LESson (IPA /'lɛsən/) [first syllable, high tone; second syllable, low tone]
lesSON (IPA /lɛ'sən/)[first syllable, low tone; second syllable, falling tone] (with stressed schwa)
`
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Perhaps the tone sequence example should have been:
`
"lesson one"
[mid tone - mid-to-high rising tone - high-to-low falling tone] instead of [high tone - high tone - high-to-low falling tone]

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

Really? Interesting. I'd like to hear more. Where did you find your data?

Hmm - sounds very odd to me too

I suppose this sort of intonation might happen if the speaker were correcting someone who'd said 'lessen': then they might say /le'sɔn wʌn/ - but I'm not convinced that this could ever happen, as the spoken /lesənz/ sound the same - so the corrector wouldn't know what to correct.

b

[dihen]

Actually, that native speaker said "lesson three" but I changed it to "lesson one" because I thought they can have the same tone pattern. Now I will tell where I heard it: from an English-teaching video in a screen where it displays "LESSON THREE", and a native speaker reads the words "LESSON THREE" in this tone sequence:
`
"LESSON THREE"
[mid tone - rising tone - falling tone]
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I would pronounce it in the sequence "[high tone - high tone - falling tone]".

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by dihen

Maybe they change the tone, not stress?

Right. That'd be my guess too.

[BobK]

Afterthought:

From the context, dihen, might the teacher be paging through a book, and not finishing the word /lesən/ until he's found the right page?

b

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by dihen

I would pronounce it in the sequence "[high tone - high tone - falling tone]".

Dihen, check out this site (scroll down to Tone). Look for examples of and explanations for:

• fall
• low-rise
• high-rise
• fall-rise

All the best.

[dihen]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

Dihen, check out this site (scroll down to Tone). Look for examples of and explanations for:

• fall
• low-rise
• high-rise
• fall-rise

Is that about British English or American English?

[Casiopea]

Good question.

Does it matter? (I'm not sure.) You could ask the author: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eðitim Fakültesi Ýngilizce Öðretmenliði Bölümü

Mehmet ÇELİK, 2003 Learning Stress and Intonation in English: A practical course book for intermediate and advanced students. Ankara : Gazi Publications.

All the best.