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Copyright of Linguistic Landscape: An International Journal (LL) is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is an investigation into the construction of Venice as a heterotopia -- another place -- characterised by a liminal linguistic landscape (LL) against a background of mass tourism seen as the enactment of different tourist subjectivities converging onto a peculiarly transnational space. The first part of the study contextualises mass tourism and outlines the concepts of liminality, deterritorialisation and heterotopia. The second part presents and discusses the data, which lay the basis for a linguistic and semiotic reading of Venice's public space. The conclusion proposes an interpretation of Venice's LL as a deterritorialised, heterotopic and liminal space, and, importantly, highlights that LL studies have much to contribute to an understanding of late modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]