The linguistic literature contains many studies of the structure of the noun phrase. Syntactic structures that occupy NP position but which don't have the internal characteristics of a substantive (infinitives and THAT clauses, for example) are distinguished from lexical structures that occupy NP position and do have the internal characteristics of a substantive (derived nominals, for example). This study is restricted to the morphology of deverbal lexical structures that may occupy NP position. The first part of the study considers the theoretical solutions that have been proposed for treating lexical nominalization. Particular attention is paid to the treatments that lexical nominalizations have received within the theory of transformational grammar. In the second parts of the study, the morphology of the principal deverbal suffixes in French is analyzed, and the lexical redundancy rules required are stated. In the third part, this study's derivational model is compared with that of Aronoff (1974). This study has led to a distinction between a morphological and morphophonological modification, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a morphophonological modification and modification that is strictly phonological. Moreover, this study provides reasons to doubt the purported universality of the three morphological laws of ben Moshe. (Author/CLK)