This study argues that the optative ending -ki has merged with the imperative ending -Ø in consultant’s Spoken Manchu.
Written Manchu’s optative ending –ki appears in horative or imperative sentences, as well as statement of speaker’s will. In Spoken Manchu, ending -Ø appears in those sentence types, instead of -ki. In case of Spoken Sibe, –ki is used only to express speaker’s will, while both -Ø and –ki may be used in horative or imperative sentences.
Ja/je and je shows the same distribution, except for following condition; ja/jə of Spoken Manchu comes after ending -Ø while je of Spoken Sibe appears after ending –ki.
By these two linguistic phenomena, it can be argued that -ki of Spoken Manchu has merged with ending -Ø.