A web-based collaborative environment including on-line authoring tools that is managed by a central database was developed in collaboration with several countries including Peru, Bolivia, and the United States. The application involved developing a linguistics database and eLearning environment for documenting, preserving, and promoting language training for Aymara, a language indigenous to Peru and Bolivia. The database, an ontology management system called Lyra, incorporates all elements of the language (dialogues, phrase patterns, phrases, words, and morphemes) as well as cultural multimedia resources (images and sound recordings). The organization of the database enables a high level of integration among language elements and cultural resources. Authoring tools are used by experts in the Aymara language to build the linguistic database. These tools are accessible on-line as part of the collaborative environment using standard web browsers incorporating the Java plug-in. The eLearning student interface is a web-based program written in Flash. The Flash program automatically interprets and formats data objects retrieved from the database in XML format. The student interface is presented in Spanish and English. A web service architecture is used to publish the database on-line so that it can be accessed and utilized by other application programs in a variety of formats