diff -r 2a1b4ac63f3a Lib/test/test_tcl.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_tcl.py	Tue Mar 19 01:22:56 2013 -0700
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tcl.py	Tue Mar 19 11:50:23 2013 +0200
@@ -175,6 +175,30 @@
                 self.assertEqual(passValue(f), f)
         self.assertEqual(passValue((1, '2', (3.4,))), (1, '2', (3.4,)))
 
+    def test_splitlist(self):
+        splitlist = self.interp.tk.splitlist
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, splitlist)
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, splitlist, 'a', 'b')
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, splitlist, 2)
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist('2'), ('2',))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist('a\n b\t\r c\n '), ('a', 'b', 'c'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(b'a\n b\t\r c\n '), ('a', 'b', 'c'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist('a \u20ac'), ('a', '\u20ac'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(b'a \xe2\x82\xac'), ('a', '\u20ac'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist('a {b c}'), ('a', 'b c'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(r'a b\ c'), ('a', 'b c'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(('a', 'b c')), ('a', 'b c'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist('a 2'), ('a', '2'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(('a', 2)), ('a', 2))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist('a 3.4'), ('a', '3.4'))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(('a', 3.4)), ('a', 3.4))
+        call = self.interp.tk.call
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(call('list', 1, '2', (3.4,))),
+                         (1, '2', (3.4,)))
+        self.assertEqual(splitlist(call('dict', 'create',
+                                        1, '2', b'\xe2\x82\xac', (3.4,))),
+                         (1, '2', '\u20ac', (3.4,)))
+
 
 def test_main():
     support.run_unittest(TclTest, TkinterTest)
diff -r 2a1b4ac63f3a Modules/_tkinter.c
--- a/Modules/_tkinter.c	Tue Mar 19 01:22:56 2013 -0700
+++ b/Modules/_tkinter.c	Tue Mar 19 11:50:23 2013 +0200
@@ -1721,16 +1721,35 @@
     char *list;
     int argc;
     char **argv;
-    PyObject *v;
+    PyObject *arg, *v;
     int i;
 
-    if (PyTuple_Size(args) == 1) {
-        v = PyTuple_GetItem(args, 0);
-        if (PyTuple_Check(v)) {
-            Py_INCREF(v);
-            return v;
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O:splitlist", &arg))
+        return NULL;
+    if (PyTclObject_Check(arg)) {
+        int objc;
+        Tcl_Obj **objv;
+        if (Tcl_ListObjGetElements(Tkapp_Interp(self),
+                                   ((PyTclObject*)arg)->value,
+                                   &objc, &objv) == TCL_ERROR) {
+            return Tkinter_Error(self);
         }
+        if (!(v = PyTuple_New(objc)))
+            return NULL;
+        for (i = 0; i < objc; i++) {
+            PyObject *s = FromObj(self, objv[i]);
+            if (!s || PyTuple_SetItem(v, i, s)) {
+                Py_DECREF(v);
+                return NULL;
+            }
+        }
+        return v;
     }
+    if (PyTuple_Check(arg)) {
+        Py_INCREF(arg);
+        return arg;
+    }
+
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "et:splitlist", "utf-8", &list))
         return NULL;