Can skeletal mages speak?

Looking at the skeletal mage from AP #44, they are given Silent Spell as a bonus feat when they became undead. It really didn't dawn on me until now that they wouldn't be able to speak since they don't have vocal chords per se.

Now here is where it gets fun:

IN the stat block, the spells they have memorized are at their original levels, no spell is modified with Silent Spell. Skeletal mages retain their intelligence too.

So it bears to ask, can intelligent skeletons speak? If so, why give Silent Spell as a bonus feat?

Thoughts?

It doesn't specify whether it can speak. (For that matter, I'm not certain that it's specified whether a regular skeletal champion can speak.) Since the writer bothered to give them the feat, I'm forced to assume that the spells were intended to be silent in a similar fashion to a deaf oracle's spells and that the writer either overlooked it or tried to conserve ink.

It's not the only weird quality; they use their skulls as arcane bonds. How cool is that? I want to make a wizard who enchants his own skull....

Assuming I am looking at the right stat block:
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Undercommon

So it can speak. How does it speak? The same way it can see with empty eye sockets.

So it bears to ask, can intelligent skeletons speak? If so, why give Silent Spell as a bonus feat?

Most skeletons are mindless, and they obviously don't. As for the intelligent ones, that depends on the type. There are quite a few skeletal type creatures. Some intelligent ones might keep their languages but still be unable to speak, only understanding them.

As for Silent Spell bonus feat, I have no answer. Maybe it involves their ecology or the AP they're in provides a clue I don't see from just the stat block.

@blahpers...yes the skull as arcane bond is WAY freaking cool.

@Pizza...I thought about that too with the languages, but then i realized that there are creatures that have languages listed in their block, but in the creature notes it says that they can only understand those languages but can not speak them. (shrug) I dunno.

But yeah the Silent Spell is throwing me for a loop. I could understand they get Eschew Materials for free being a skeleton and not carrying a spell pouch...

Usually, if a creature has languages it understands but can't speak, it lists it in the language section of the stat block. If it doesn't specify that it can't speak, It can be assumed that it does speak.

So it can speak. How does it speak? The same way it can see with empty eye sockets.

This, and also note that there are many conventions from mythology, horror, movies, comics, novels, etc., that the game has been borrowing from since its inception that we all take for granted.

Intelligent, skeletal characters that speak have always been around in fiction, from Charon to the Deadites in Army of Darkness. It's a non-thing. It's taken for granted.

You're not always meant to question the real-world physics with these things. It's a variation on the "does a lightning spell power things/attract easier to metal/deal more damage in water?" question.

It talks, the same way Skeletor talks.

im not clear on the monsters abilities, as my DM asked me not to read these books when we moved from 3.5 D&D. but aren't skeletons sneaky? he does love throwing them as ambushers. in that respact silent spell is golden to not inform the other party members outside the room that somethings up.