lyric-ties within a word (spacing/hyphenation issue)

[Monk Panteleimon]

Hello, Lilypond list.

I would like to use lyric ties on syllables within a single word,
without the syllables looking -- for the presence of hyphen-less space 
-- like two short words.
The problem is that there seems to be a minimum amount of space between
the syllables that are tied, and it doesn't seem affected by LyricSpace.
Nor can one put hyphens between tied syllables, e.g [ hy~ -- phen ]. So, 
they look like
separate words.
Behold:

%%%%
\version "2.10"

% Of course, I could just do this:
\score { \relative c''
      { c b }
      \addlyrics
      { plen- -- teous }
\layout{ ragged-right = ##t }
}

% But I'd rather combine this:
\score { \relative c''
      { c b }
      \addlyrics
      { plen- -- te~ous }
\layout{ ragged-right = ##t }
}

%with  something like this:
% (I've used a middle-dot here, which I think works better than a hyphen 
in this case.)
\score { \relative c''
      { c b }
      \addlyrics
      { plen- -- te·ous }
\layout{ ragged-right = ##t }
}

%But that makes this (even without any LyricSpace):
\score { \relative c''
      { c b }
      \addlyrics
      { plen- -- \override LyricSpace #'minimum-distance = #0  te~·ous }
\layout{ ragged-right = ##t }
}
%%%

My intention, btw, is that these syllables should be less articulated 
than if they had each an 8th note,
but slightly more than if we simply pronounced them "tyus".
Thank you very much for lilypond and all of the assistance I have 
received from this list.
--
Monk Panteleimon
Hermitage of the Holy Cross
Wayne, WV, USA
address@hidden