The 1840 edition deleted the definite article the before Amlicites in the phrase “the Lamanites and the Amlicites”. The RLDS text has maintained this reading (since the RLDS text derives from the 1840 edition). It is doubtful that this 1840 change was the result of editing on the part of Joseph Smith. In the original text, the definite article is always repeated in phrases where Lamanites is conjoined with Amlicites (or Amalekites), for a total of eight times, including one in the immediately preceding verse: “the Lamanites and the Amlicites being as numerous almost as it were as the sands of the sea” (Alma 2:27). We get the same repeated the when Nephites and Lamanites are conjoined; see the discussion under Enos 1:24. Also see the general discussion under conjunc-tive repetition in volume 3.
Summary: Accept in Alma 2:28 the repeated the in the phrase “the Lamanites and the Amlicites” since the text consistently repeats the the in this construction (just as it does with “the Nephites and the Lamanites”).