When a note carries a lyric syllable, the syllable's text width — not the note's duration — must govern that note's minimum horizontal space

A long syllable under a short note forces that note (and often its neighbors) to widen beyond what its duration alone would earn, because the text must not overlap the next syllable. Ross and Gould both treat lyric-driven spacing as an override layer on top of, not instead of, the duration curve.

Ross, The Art of Music Engraving (lyric-driven spacing overrides); Gould, Behind Bars (word spacing under the staff, syllable-hyphen rules).

This rule can be decided from pitches, durations and voices — no layout required. A validator can check it before anything is drawn.