Are the two pronunciations of 谁 (shéi / shuí) the result of regional differences?

Question

The pronoun 谁 has two pronunciations — shéi and shuí — without a difference in meaning. When I started learning Chinese, I learnt the pronunciation shéi. However, one of my Chinese language partners (from Henan) said that he had never learnt this pronunciation and said that no other words in Chinese are pronounced as shéi (so this pronunciation was an anomaly).

(I have also noticed that New Practical Chinese Reader, published by Beijing Language and Culture University Press, uses shéi, while another book Chinesisch für Deutsche from Haiwen in Shanghai consistently uses shuí.)

Are these two alternative pronunciations the result of regional differences? Is one of them the "official" pronunciation?

Update: The original version of this question claimed that the final "-éi" (i.e. with the second tone) does not occur in other Chinese words. As 倪阔乐 pointed out in a comment, this is not correct.

Answer 1

Most of dictionaries include both of them:

● 谁

（誰）

shuí ㄕㄨㄟˊ 又 shéi ㄕㄟˊ

According to 说文解字,

从言隹聲。示隹切

It seems to be shuí^[1], but according to 康熙字典 it has both pronunciations in different books.

(pinyin added by me)

《五音集韻》是爲切(shéi) 《玉篇》是推切(shuí)，音垂。

In conclusion, both are right. IMO, shéi seems to be used more in spoken language.

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^{[1] 隹 has three pronunciations, zhuī, cuī, wéi, but only zhuī was mentioned in 说文解字. So I believe the pronunciation of 谁 mentioned in 说文解字 should be shuí.}