Short syllables center under the notehead; long syllables anchor left to the notehead and let the column widen rightward

A syllable narrower than the note's allotted horizontal space is centered under the notehead. A syllable wider than the available space is left-aligned so its first letter starts under (or very near) the notehead, and the note spacing widens rather than letting the text bleed backward into the previous note's space.

A long syllable is centered under a narrow eighth-note column, causing its leading characters to overlap the previous syllable's trailing characters.

Gould (centred under the notehead; Ross on lyric-driven spacing.

This rule is about where marks land on the page, so it can only be judged after engraving. Collision and spacing faults live here.