let me offer two examples of how talking dwarfs could be implemented. when viewing units to assign labor and such, the unit can offer a quick summary of their status. so as you mouse over units, they say, 'hello! I'm doing nothing.' 'i've had it up to here!' 'i'm busy building a bed.' 'i've get better at digging all day!' 'Boy am I thirsty' 'Those goblins are terrifying!' what it is is just viewing the emotional data that already exists in the game, but in a different format. Perhaps then the dwarf can be interviewed w a chat dialogue. surroundings/family/service equivilants for DF can apply, e.g. possessions/relations/labor, and then the quality and preference can be asked of the dwarf as well. same info that already exists in the game, just aproached in a more role play style, w a chat themed menu. but the dwarf feedback is also according to the dwarf's emotional settings, so if a dwarf is submissive or not conversational, the reaction could be terse, or if a dwarf is verbose, the opposite. this system begins to lend itself to an interesting social dynamic, dwarfs can tell you they are jealous, unsatisfied, they can request service or items, etc. perhaps the more verbose dwarfs are story tellers 'Feb the recruit dwarf recently defended my child from a Kobold kidnapper. But I didn't like how Feb was looking at my Husband.', but perhaps the liar dwarfs create offer random events that throw the player off.
What my rambling is aiming towards a is a "combat system" for dialogue and social interaction. this way the dwarfs can "talk" to each other, which would take the form of a combat style interaction. The dwarfs' in question pit their emotional stats against one another, along w their wants and needs, and the dice rolls to figure out who wins the arguement. So in this situation, certain subordinate dwarfs will not work for certain non asertive dwarf leaders. but a good leader will have an insanely productive workshop. ideally, the player can trust high level dwarf leaders to get stuff done, while the player goes on doing fun player stuff.
agian this is all wild speculation that might be insanely infeasable. but it seems like it's mildly do-able, tho probably not. i could see it enhancing the game a bunch tho, just to mind fart w the dwarfs for a while.