The purpose of this study is to investigate the noun phrases in written French outside of the context of verbal utterances, but nevertheless referring to the world. In order to illuminate such nominal phrases from a new angle, which have traditionally only been considered with respect to the sentence, i.e. to the predication between a subject and a predicate, this study calls them nominal utterances and adopts the perspective of Japanese grammar, which has not been influenced by the logic of Occidental grammar. In the definitions of Jutsu-tai and Kan-tai put forth by YAMADA Yoshio 山田孝雄 (1936), — verbal utterance and nominal utterance, respectively — a foundational text on Japanese grammar to which this study engages with, YAMADA defines nominal enunciations in contrast to verbal enunciations as a specific mode of anchoring. Whereas the reference to the world of Jutsu-tai (verbal utterances) is defined at the semantic-syntactic level by the presence of a conjugated verb with its arguments, (Kan-tai), utterances consisting of a noun phrase, which are not intended to assume a specific syntactic role per se, acquire the possibility of functioning as an utterance by the mode of enunciation itself. This mode, called « Yobikake shij-suru yôtai (mode of designation by naming) » (YAMADA), which this study translates as “designation in situ,” is characterised by establishing the relationship between the utterer and the referent of the noun phrase. This relationship distinguishes the nominal enunciation from the verbal enunciation by establishing the relationship between two arguments at semantic-syntactic level.