diff --git a/Modules/arraymodule.c b/Modules/arraymodule.c
index 9de14fd..210ada6 100644
--- a/Modules/arraymodule.c
+++ b/Modules/arraymodule.c
@@ -1797,7 +1797,7 @@
 	PyObject *initial = NULL, *it = NULL;
 	struct arraydescr *descr;
 	
-	if (!_PyArg_NoKeywords("array.array()", kwds))
+	if (type == &Arraytype && !_PyArg_NoKeywords("array.array()", kwds))
 		return NULL;
 
 	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "c|O:array", &c, &initial))