In language studies

In language studies, poverty of the stimulus is the argument that the detailed knowledge of children when it comes to their first language is far superior to the linguistic input given to them. Hence, people must be born with an in herent ability to learn a language.
The expression “poverty of the stimulus” was coined by a linguist Noam Chomsky, in his book, Rules and Representations.
The concept challenges the idea that children learn a language solely through the teachings of their parents and others. Chomsky said that children picked up language very quickly and with too few errors to have been taught it all. Hence, there must be some innate language mechanism in place that helps them develop linguistic skills at this pace.
English can be used as a good example to support this argument. It is practically impossible to teach children all the various intricacies of the language and the whole multitude of rules that come along with it. Despite that, they are able to apply the correct rules almost spontaneously.
Due to this poverty of the stimulus, is it strongly believed that linguistics seems to have very little to do with its actual teaching. Many linguists believe that some knowledge of language must be inherent. We must have a certain knowledge of language; a basic structure in place to build upon. This apparent encoded information helps children identify and fit in the nuances of their mother tongue into a pre-acquired framework, helping them pick up the language at a rapid pace.