Is "restructuralization" a word?

Question

I found this word restructuralization on a project report and was wondering whether this word exists in the English language.

Answer 1

I haven't been able to find it in practically any dictionary available online, though a google search does yield "About 10,100 results" which means that existent or not, the word is being used.

I don't see how it can be a viable word though, as its meaning would be more easily conveyed via "restructure" or "reconstruction". Its root structuralization means "to form, organize, or incorporate into a structure", so technically adding the prefix re- would be correct, but still superfluous.

However, it's possible "restructuralization" is a term specific to a certain industry. It isn't uncommon for an unusual term to be used within a science or industry in order to make it clear to its users what they're talking about. "Synchronicity" comes to mind. Within psychology, to say "simultaneous" or "synchrony" means what everyone knows it to mean, but when you say "synchronicity" you can only be referring to a specific Jungian theory/concept.

Answer 2

It seems to me that it might be a kind of formally created translation of the "Newspeak" of the Eastern Block prior to 1989. For example in Czech (which is my native language), the word "restrukturalizace" was quite common in the political newspeak - meaning that a structure of some entity (e.g. industry, education, politics, ...) has been revised and redefined, often with some latent implications that the "old structure" was wrong.

In the present-day Czech, this word still is somewhat used. I would say it has lost its political connotations but still pertains to the ugliest forms of the boring bureaucratical language or top management mumbo jumbo. However, in these cases it should be translated to English as "restructuring", see e.g. http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=cs&catId=782 and then its English counterpart http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=782&langId=en .

I would thus say that "restructuralization" in the present-day English documents is a) incorrect translation by someone like me; b) deliberate connotation to the Newspeak-ish aspects of language and their absurdities.

Answer 3

It does exist in the wild, but it is very rare.

Structuralize and its derivatives show up in printed works beginning around the turn of the 20th century. The frequency is very low and does not seem to be gaining momentum. Forms spelled with “s” instead of “z” first appear in the 1960s, suggesting that the word, after stagnating in the US, tried a fresh start in Canada or the UK, but to no avail.¹

The Student Government Association at Youngstown State University apparently has a Budget and Appropriations Restructuralization Committee.² The naming of this committee seems like a bit of a prank, along the lines of “Department Of Redundancy Department”.