I had listened this sentence somewhere, but couldn't recall where. Today I listened the same sentence in the song "Wanna Know" by "Obie Trice".
So what is the meaning of the line,
You speak no English
To me it appears that it means that you do not speak any kind of English.
Edit
I am a bit confused with the meaning of the word any here. When does the word no become any?
I know that a sentence like "I don't care about nobody" means "I don't care about anybody". Does "no" become "any" only in double-negative type of sentences? But there are sentences like, "I have no pen" mean "I don't have any pen". That is "no" is equivalent to "any" in usual sentences also.
Another thing, when we say "I have no pen", it means that "I don't have any type of pen. So a sentence like "I have no X" requires there to be a number of different types of X to exist. But in some sentences like "I have no milk", it means "I don't have any amount of milk". Could you clear the things up, when is no=any kind of
and when is any=any amount of
. Still I can understand when any=any amount
or any=any kind of
, from the context, but I can't conceive an objective criteria for this.
Best Answer
You speak no English (= “You don’t speak any English”) means, literally, “You have no ability to speak English” rather than “You don’t speak any kind or dialect of English”.
In the context of the song, however, You speak no English is a metaphor (or, arguably, a synechdoche) for “You are ignorant and inarticulate”—specifically, “You have no artistic sensibility”.
Obie Trice invites his listeners to assert their own musical preferences and renounce the ‘influence’ of those who have achieved material success (a whip is a Mercedes or similar expensive, high-status car) when they sneer at Obie’s music.