diff --git a/Lib/test/string_tests.py b/Lib/test/string_tests.py
--- a/Lib/test/string_tests.py
+++ b/Lib/test/string_tests.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
         result = self.fixtype(result)
         obj = self.fixtype(obj)
         args = self.fixtype(args)
-        kwargs = self.fixtype(kwargs)
+        kwargs = {k: self.fixtype(v) for k,v in kwargs.items()}
         realresult = getattr(obj, methodname)(*args, **kwargs)
         self.assertEqual(
             result,
@@ -389,6 +389,17 @@
         self.checkequal(['a']*18 + ['aBLAHa'], ('aBLAH'*20)[:-4],
                         'split', 'BLAH', 18)
 
+        # with keyword args
+        self.checkequal(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'], 'a|b|c|d', 'split', sep='|')
+        self.checkequal(['a', 'b|c|d'],
+                        'a|b|c|d', 'split', '|', maxsplit=1)
+        self.checkequal(['a', 'b|c|d'],
+                        'a|b|c|d', 'split', sep='|', maxsplit=1)
+        self.checkequal(['a', 'b|c|d'],
+                        'a|b|c|d', 'split', maxsplit=1, sep='|')
+        self.checkequal(['a', 'b c d'],
+                        'a b c d', 'split', maxsplit=1)
+
         # argument type
         self.checkraises(TypeError, 'hello', 'split', 42, 42, 42)
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_bytes.py b/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
@@ -435,6 +435,14 @@
         self.assertEqual(b.split(b'i'), [b'm', b'ss', b'ss', b'pp', b''])
         self.assertEqual(b.split(b'ss'), [b'mi', b'i', b'ippi'])
         self.assertEqual(b.split(b'w'), [b])
+        # with keyword args
+        b = self.type2test(b'a|b|c|d')
+        self.assertEqual(b.split(sep=b'|'), [b'a', b'b', b'c', b'd'])
+        self.assertEqual(b.split(b'|', maxsplit=1), [b'a', b'b|c|d'])
+        self.assertEqual(b.split(sep=b'|', maxsplit=1), [b'a', b'b|c|d'])
+        self.assertEqual(b.split(maxsplit=1, sep=b'|'), [b'a', b'b|c|d'])
+        b = self.type2test(b'a b c d')
+        self.assertEqual(b.split(maxsplit=1), [b'a', b'b c d'])
 
     def test_split_whitespace(self):
         for b in (b'  arf  barf  ', b'arf\tbarf', b'arf\nbarf', b'arf\rbarf',
diff --git a/Objects/bytearrayobject.c b/Objects/bytearrayobject.c
--- a/Objects/bytearrayobject.c
+++ b/Objects/bytearrayobject.c
@@ -2047,15 +2047,17 @@
 If maxsplit is given, at most maxsplit splits are done.");
 
 static PyObject *
-bytearray_split(PyByteArrayObject *self, PyObject *args)
+bytearray_split(PyByteArrayObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"sep", "maxsplit", 0};
     Py_ssize_t len = PyByteArray_GET_SIZE(self), n;
     Py_ssize_t maxsplit = -1;
     const char *s = PyByteArray_AS_STRING(self), *sub;
     PyObject *list, *subobj = Py_None;
     Py_buffer vsub;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|On:split", &subobj, &maxsplit))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "|On:split",
+                                     kwlist, &subobj, &maxsplit))
         return NULL;
     if (maxsplit < 0)
         maxsplit = PY_SSIZE_T_MAX;
@@ -2871,7 +2873,7 @@
     {"rpartition", (PyCFunction)bytearray_rpartition, METH_O, rpartition__doc__},
     {"rsplit", (PyCFunction)bytearray_rsplit, METH_VARARGS, rsplit__doc__},
     {"rstrip", (PyCFunction)bytearray_rstrip, METH_VARARGS, rstrip__doc__},
-    {"split", (PyCFunction)bytearray_split, METH_VARARGS, split__doc__},
+    {"split", (PyCFunction)bytearray_split, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, split__doc__},
     {"splitlines", (PyCFunction)bytearray_splitlines,
      METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, splitlines__doc__},
     {"startswith", (PyCFunction)bytearray_startswith, METH_VARARGS ,
diff --git a/Objects/bytesobject.c b/Objects/bytesobject.c
--- a/Objects/bytesobject.c
+++ b/Objects/bytesobject.c
@@ -980,15 +980,17 @@
 If maxsplit is given, at most maxsplit splits are done.");
 
 static PyObject *
-bytes_split(PyBytesObject *self, PyObject *args)
+bytes_split(PyBytesObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"sep", "maxsplit", 0};
     Py_ssize_t len = PyBytes_GET_SIZE(self), n;
     Py_ssize_t maxsplit = -1;
     const char *s = PyBytes_AS_STRING(self), *sub;
     Py_buffer vsub;
     PyObject *list, *subobj = Py_None;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|On:split", &subobj, &maxsplit))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "|On:split",
+                                     kwlist, &subobj, &maxsplit))
         return NULL;
     if (maxsplit < 0)
         maxsplit = PY_SSIZE_T_MAX;
@@ -2472,7 +2474,7 @@
      rpartition__doc__},
     {"rsplit", (PyCFunction)bytes_rsplit, METH_VARARGS, rsplit__doc__},
     {"rstrip", (PyCFunction)bytes_rstrip, METH_VARARGS, rstrip__doc__},
-    {"split", (PyCFunction)bytes_split, METH_VARARGS, split__doc__},
+    {"split", (PyCFunction)bytes_split, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, split__doc__},
     {"splitlines", (PyCFunction)bytes_splitlines, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS,
      splitlines__doc__},
     {"startswith", (PyCFunction)bytes_startswith, METH_VARARGS,
diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -12408,12 +12408,14 @@
 removed from the result.");
 
 static PyObject*
-unicode_split(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
-{
+unicode_split(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
+{
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"sep", "maxsplit", 0};
     PyObject *substring = Py_None;
     Py_ssize_t maxcount = -1;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|On:split", &substring, &maxcount))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "|On:split",
+                                     kwlist, &substring, &maxcount))
         return NULL;
 
     if (substring == Py_None)
@@ -13067,7 +13069,7 @@
 
     {"encode", (PyCFunction) unicode_encode, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, encode__doc__},
     {"replace", (PyCFunction) unicode_replace, METH_VARARGS, replace__doc__},
-    {"split", (PyCFunction) unicode_split, METH_VARARGS, split__doc__},
+    {"split", (PyCFunction) unicode_split, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, split__doc__},
     {"rsplit", (PyCFunction) unicode_rsplit, METH_VARARGS, rsplit__doc__},
     {"join", (PyCFunction) unicode_join, METH_O, join__doc__},
     {"capitalize", (PyCFunction) unicode_capitalize, METH_NOARGS, capitalize__doc__},