This entrance is about the answer token or interjection jo, which does not have a direct English translation, but which we have chosen to call ‘yes2’. This response token is used as a response to both questions and other utterances. It is normally stressed and can be pronounced as ['joːˀ], ['jɔwˀ].

Danish has a so-called ‘perfect polarity system’ which means that negatively formulated utterances are confirmed with nej ‘no’, while positively formulated utterances are confirmed with ja ‘yes’. However, in some cases, a positive claim is expressed through a negatively formulated utterance. In those cases, jo is used to to confirm or disconfirm the claim. The example below illustrates the clear difference in the usage of ja and jo. In the example, a positively formulated utterance is confirmed with a ja, but when the same utterance is rephrased negatively a while later, it is confirmed with jo:

Mie and Jens are gossiping about a local family and Mie has just told Jens that the family members have had a falling out due to an inheritance issue. In lines 4-7 Jens makes a statement to Mie about one of the family members having forgotten to inform another family member of something. The use of vist in line 7, which translates literally to something like ‘surely’, but in use means something more like ‘I think’, suggests that Jens has less knowledge than Mie about the subject, but Mie’s jerh ‘yeah’ on line 9 only expresses confirmation towards the statement, not that she has more knowledge of the subject. Following this, Jens produces a negatively formulated question on line 11 which shows that he wants his statement confirmed. Mie confirms in line 12 with joh han havde ’yes2 he did’.

Jo is also used to confirm utterances which are negatively formulated by virtue of the tag ikk ‘right’ at the end of the utterance. This is the case in the example below where Lis’ claim that Asta had a common car in the garage is finished with ikk ‘right’: